[NW] Queen of the Mad Dog Knights - Ch. 11

Chapter 11: It’s a walk! Master! (by all the mad dogs)

In my obliviousness, the invasion preparations to invade the neighboring Humanist Kingdom were completed—.

The doggies in front of me looked to be overflowing with eagerness, and they were truly lively.

Yes, it was good that they were having fun.
But, I already knew what I needed to do.

“Please sit!”
“Yes.”
“Woof!”

Let’s stop invading other countries on your own without consulting me, okay?!
A promise with the good doggies!

In my homeland, I was just a fragment of the aristocracy.
I didn’t think that everything in war was evil.
But, if I’m suddenly told, “We’ll fight for your honor,” I’ll be troubled!

All the dog-people joyfully sat down properly on their knees.
But, they couldn’t completely understand my anger.

Lord Darius’ emotionless face. Lord Rascal’s and Lord Keith’s stiff faces. Lord Mars’ smile.
I knew that they were thinking, “We’re going to beat our Master’s enemies, so what is she angry about?”

Lord Leonhardt began to be concerned, wondering, “Huh? Were we mistaken?” but Lord Peter had been very delighted the whole time, saying, “Yay! We got an order!”

I placed both hands on my hip and struck an imposing pose.

“Firstly, Lord Darius. Please return to your human form.”
[Yes.]

When he was in his dog-form, I couldn’t seem to get angry at him.
Even when he knelt down in his human form, his large size didn’t change the fact that our gazes didn’t meet.

“You cannot attack a country over one insult! Lord Darius, you’re the captain of the knights, right?!”
“I wanted to be the Master’s pet dog before that.”
“Please take more responsibility for this country!”
“Besides being a pet dog, my role is to protect the pride of our country.”
“What is the pride of our country?!”
“Our loving feelings toward Lady Lizelotte.”

Grumble. The conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
He was a spoiled child, and this was the first time I’ve seen him this stubborn.

The beautiful person sitting beautifully on his knees passionately explained to me.

“I understand that Lady Lizelotte loathes war.
But, historically, the Humanist Kingdom had invaded our country numerous times, and many causalities have appeared in the previous war.
They kidnapped us dog-people, terrorized us, and picked plenty of fights on an international level. They are a bunch who do not see a problem in massacring everyone who possesses an animal form. And each time, the royal family negotiated, offered compensation, and gave the order, ‘Regardless, we’re neighbors, so endure.’

—But, there is only Lady Lizelotte left in the royal family.
And now, they’re looking down on our Lady Lizelotte. Our people can no longer tolerate this. Similarly, I too have run out of patience.”

A gloomy shadow covered that beautiful face. That shadow also matched his beauty.
However…to think that the citizens’ resentment went this far.

I was the only member of the current royal family.
Now that I thought about it, even though doggies were moving around on their own all over the place, they didn’t seem to be anyone leading.

The neighboring Humanist Kingdom was your typical country with only people in human forms.
It was a country founded by people who escaped the old world for reasons such as political offense, being fugitives, belonging to a minority, and such.

But, a majority of the population in this continent possessed some kind of animal form.
That made the group even more of a minority.

As such, they used the old world’s purist beliefs as a means to unite in the new world.
From the start, those beliefs labeled those who possessed animal forms as Alters and preached that purists were the superior race to discriminate against those people.
Recently, they were promoting purity and fundamentalism.

The other day, High Priest Apso had informed me.

“The purists do not have a ‘god.’ What they do have is a pursuit of humanity and purity.”
“What is presently their motto?”
“It is not much different from other normal beliefs. To be reasonable. To uphold morals. To restrain impulses. To have a reason to live…and others.”
“Are those not good things?”

The high priest said, “Well, that’s it,” with a troubled look.

“However, it is a matter with the hierarchs leading their religion. They emphasize the point of ‘living even purer lives.’ While restraining impulses, they rationalized that it was fine to kill people.”
“Come again?”
“The recent hierarchs have been particularly stressing that people must live pure lives and claiming to be disgusted by those half-baked creatures known as Alters. Saying that the way they lived their lives was unclean.”

They saw living being as unclean and impure.
The high priest said that and concluded with this.

“Well, it doesn’t concern us. You can think of them as some shut-in who doesn’t care about their appearance and claim that women had no worth unless they were a virgin.”
“High Priest, you shouldn’t give that example to a ten-year-old girl.”

There wouldn’t be anything good coming out of getting involved with such elitist shut-ins!
Destroying them once would turn them into a breeding ground for terrorism, and it was certain that they would soon return to normal. No, they would surely become even more of a nuisance.

High Priest Apso offered a suggestion.
“The more humans with strong impressions are attacked, the more extreme their martyr complex becomes.
History will repeat itself. Each time we take revenge on the neighboring country, they’ll come back like antibiotic resistant bacteria and be more stubborn.”

“That’s why carelessly going after the neighboring country of crazy people is—”
[Urgent message!]

When I about to announce that, a slender messenger soldier suddenly arrived.
This was the same way the message of the Rottweilers’ insurrection arrived.
I had a bad feeling.

Lord Darius ordered him to speak, so he returned to his human form and reported in a loud voice.
“Message from the 2nd Division’s Commander Mastiff! ‘We have already surrounded their royal capital!’”

Come again?

As I froze, Lord Darius nodded in acknowledgment.
He slightly tilted his neck and said, “I’ve only heard of this now, but I guess it’s fine.”
I couldn’t overlook this.

The three from the 4th Division saw this opening and escaped, saying, “The Puppies will dispatch! If we don’t go now, we’ll lose our chance to shine!”

“Ah, wait, everyone?!”
[Urgent message!]

Another slender dog came!
It was probably the same breed.
He also turned into his human-form and reported in a loud voice.

“The 5th Division has invaded the royal castle! It appears that they have captured the important members of the royal family and a group of hierarchs!”
“Eh! Those Corgis are doing good! Though, this is the first time I’ve heard that they do infiltrations. Well, that’s fine.”

Lord Mars looked disappointed, but this wasn’t good at all.

Though saying that, I’m getting pushed further and further into the background.
Even though these doggies loved being ordered that much, they wouldn’t hear anything I have to say as soon as they entered walk (war) mode!

A bunch of doggies was running energetically in my mind.

Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.

I took the lead and was followed by many doggies.
That side picked a fight and this side bit down. Everywhere was chaos.

How weak was I?! How much did I lack leadership?!
With my lack of stamina, my lead could be easily taken by Bad-Shiba, and I would be dragged along.

All the mad dogs surely couldn’t be easily controlled with such an owner!

We moved to the operation headquarters in the royal palace.
As I continued to worry, the messenger dogs continued to appear.

They reported to Lord Darius, and each time, they received new orders and left. It seemed faster than fumbling with the transceiver.

Everyone had the same doggy appearance.
They appeared to all be Greyhounds.

“The 3rd Division has finished evacuating the refugees!”
“The 6th Division used long-ranged attacks to disable the enemy’s weapons!”

“The 8th Division has gotten into a 1-on-1 fight with the Pitbulls’ private unit!”
“Direct the remaining military power to the Pitbulls. Have the 2nd Division Vice-Commander Gentleman Von Pitbull specifically fight against Barbarian Von Pitbull.”

“Our military power has suffered several losses by the Pitbulls’ ‘Don’t bother us’ attack! The number of those leaving the front has increased!”
“Have the Puppies focus not on the royal castle but to bombard the Pitbulls first.”

The contents weren’t about the opposing Humanist Kingdom’s army but of the change to fight against the Pitbull troops!

As I grew paler and paler, Lord Leonhardt held me in his arms.
His golden hair touched my neck, his arms wrapped around me, and he shared his body warmth.
As he sniffed my neck, he was concerned, saying, “You appeared to be tried.”

“Will you be resting in your room?”
“…How many people will lose their lives in this fight?”
“Please relax. Since long ago, we were the ones who possessed overwhelming firepower. If we go forward with a blitzkrieg, it’ll be over in a moment. There has been no report of fatalities as of now.”
“How about the other side?! What’s happening with them?!”

When I became desperate and clung to him, he softly embraced me back.

“You truly are kind-hearted, Lady Lizelotte. They have the strong luck of the devil. They will not have any fatalities.
—After all, you have ordered us before not to kill them.
Let’s leave the rest for Darius to handle.”

Lord Leonhardt looked confidently upon his best friend directing the entire army.

“And, we’ll make sure to properly induce enough trauma in them so they never stand up against us again.”
“The massacre will be after that.”

Lord Leonhardt, Lord Mars! I said that you can’t do that!
I unintentionally pulled on the golden hair.

This fight really did end up with blitzkrieg.
In less than half a day, the Humanist Kingdom surrendered, and a message of that country’s royal castle was under the management of the Mad Dog Knights came in.

(I didn’t think that such a situation would happen after such a delicious meal…)
I sat on the throne with Lord Leonhardt and Lord Darius at my side and let out a sigh.

Lord Barbarian returned triumphantly and with a bruise on one eye and holding the nape of the king of the Humanist Kingdom.

“I have captured him, Queen.”
“He’s not prey! That’s rude, so please release him!”
“…He has his limbs properly attached, so please relax.”
“That’s not the issue!”
“I’m just excited from fighting after such a long time. There wasn’t enough red blood though. Should I supplement it here?”
“Saying impudently that you’ll violate orders!”
“Isn’t it the fault of our owner for giving us an order that doesn’t suit us?”

He was clearly looking down on me.

I knew that it wasn’t good that I was simply carried along with the flow from the beginning till the end regarding this fight.
For their queen and owner to be unable to even lead them—.

He scoffed and threw his prey out.
Even though the 1st Division—everyone in the Imperial Guards bared their fangs and glared at him, he calmly approached the throne.

The middle-aged king was finally freed from the ferocious dog’s grasp and sat down on top of the red carpet.
Then, he glared at me, spitting out, “Owner of the mad dogs. It looks like you’ve trained them well.”

“You’re acting disrespectfully to our Queen! Do you want to be chewed out here?!”
“Sir Mastiff, it’s fine. It’s only natural given that you were attacked. You can use foul language if you’d like, but let’s calm down first.”

Lord Gray Von Mastiff, who lost the hunting competition for the king to Lord Barbarian, shouted, but I wanted him to pull back now.

The man on the ground would have that if a king were to be a prisoner of war in such a country, he would rather die.
But, on the contrary,

“As if we purists could live in such an environment tainted by you Alters! Hurry up and return me! Or, rather, deeply apologize and compensate by forking over this country! After I purge all the inferior dog-people, I’ll use it beautifully. I’ll even make you, who was raised as a purist, into a wife.”

Was what he told me.

…I cannot say anything from the side that started this war, but he was quite the fellow.
I was surprised that the royal family had managed to continue to pacify these dog-people with such a neighbor around.

The royal family of pet trainers who I couldn’t meet.
Especially, my real father whom I wanted to meet and have him teach me.

Lord Leonhardt showed a lovely smile.

“Lady Lizelotte. If that mongrel catches another wretch and brings it here, what shall we do? It doesn’t matter even if it’s a cockroach.”
“Eh? I’ll get angry and tell him to spit it out.”
“But, you didn’t say to throw it away inside the house.”
“Yes. Because it’s unpleasant.”
“So, let’s do that.”

The beauty of his smiling face made eye contact with Lord Darius.
Lord Darius had been emotionless the whole time, but he had a rare and faint smile and ordered Vice-Commander Tosa, saying, “Let’s execute that plan.”

All the Japanese dogs grinned, said, “Then, we shall inform the whole army of our Queen’s order to spit it out,” and left.

“Did something happen?”
“To improve the environment without killing those bugs, I had them move a little.”

How could this be?
They will really spit out the royal family from the Humanist Kingdom.

They would throw them out in the old world. My homeland.

Purists were the only ones there, and it was the ideal place for them.
We could just migrate all of those troublesome humans to their ideal land. How truly convenient.

The predominance of the Kennel Kingdom’s greatest fighting abilities spanned the whole continent.
There was no one in the old world, other countries in the Lumania Continent, or this continent who could surpass.

The Mad Dog Knights magnificently cleaned up the troublesome people while keeping them alive.
And while interpreting my comment in the way that benefited them the most—.

The Humanist Kingdom was annexed into our country in just one day.
I heard there were plans to change the name of the former Humanist land…

All the dog-people cheered, glad and excited for once again spreading the world where Lady Lizelotte could live in peace.
But, I wasn’t satisfied.

The problem with that individualistic religion hadn’t been resolved the least bit, yet I should be glad that we won through military might?
If we simply just ignored our opponent’s opinions, wasn’t that the same as the pot calling the kettle black?
Didn’t High Priest Apso say that they’ll be more troublesome when they come back?

After bestowing the rewards, I sat and worried on the throne when a messenger Greyhound appeared.

“Two hierarchs of the old Humanist Kingdom have kidnapped the Queen’s pet dog, Bad-Shiba, and escaped!
Coincidentally, the Pugs and Chihuahuas of the Puppies were lured away by bones, and their tanks were stolen!
Since then, they have continued their escape in the tank! They have taken Lord Bad-Shiba as a hostage and demanded the restoration of purist demesne in the former-Humanist Kingdom!”

“Eh? Bad-Shiba has been kidnapped?!”

All my blood instantly drained from my face.
Then, Miss Teresa appeared with her hair disheveled and completely exhausted in front of me.

“I apologize, Lady Lize! I couldn’t protect Bad-Shiba!”
“Miss Teresa!”

It appeared that in the gap when Miss Teresa had her eyes off Bad-Shiba, he was lured away by the enemy tying a bone to a rope.
A classic trick!

Lord Leonhardt had calm eyes and told the shocked me.

“Lady Lizelotte. The mongrel has become an honorable sacrifice for our peace. Let us honor, no, offer a respectful prayer for it to have happiness in its next life.”

In this situation, everyone else there opened their mouth one after the other.

“That’s right. Even if that was captured, it’s all fat and wouldn’t make a good meal.”
“The focus of the guards will only be Master now, huh. Underneath the bed will be clean.”
“Mongrel? That’s the one who couldn’t even be a dog, right?”
“Isn’t it fine with that gone? It’s just a mongrel.”
“Who’s Bad-Shiba again?”
“……”
“The spot of her pet shall be mine…”
“Please step on me next time with your heel.”

Everyone was terrible!
They were completely on board with burying Bad-Shiba after the flow of the battle.
That last remark had nothing to do with Bad-Shiba.

Bad-Shiba wasn’t just a mongrel!
He was an absolute mongrel!

I have to protect him!

When I recalled his lazy face despite him being a Shiba Inu, I swore in my heart.
(It doesn’t matter who abandons you. I will not abandon Bad-Shiba!)

This resolution rooted itself firmly at the bottom of my heart.
It also rooted itself in my eyes, but it didn’t appear on my face.
How unfortunate.

I stood up from the throne and walked down to Lord Barbarian—no, Sir Pitbull.
Lord Leonhardt was startled and quickly rushed to my side.

“Lady Lizelotte? What is the matter?”
“Sir Pitbull—you’ll continue to fight your battles in your own way, right?”
“…What do you mean by that? Because the Queen doesn’t bring us anything interesting, isn’t it fine for us to take a walk ourselves?”
“Then, let me bring you something interesting.”

My attitude was clearer than it had ever been, and his face that had been grinning this time suddenly changed into a serious one.

“I order you as your next queen.”
“?!”

Everyone around us looked astonished.
Especially Lord Darius whose eyes were wide.

“I will form a team to rescue Bad-Shiba! The commander shall be me! The vice-commander is you, Sir Pitbull! Of course, we will safely bring him back in perfect condition! You and I, Pitbull!”

When I declared, Lord Barbarian stared back at me in disbelief.

“That’s...a punishment, right?”
“No, it’s a reward!
...Because this command makes me happier than when you told me to die.”

I desperately moved those stiff facial muscles to form a smile.
It appears that my feelings towards Bad-Shiba have been slightly conveyed.

My face at that time would be talked about and be used in the future to scare children who stay up late that, “If you don’t sleep, Her Majesty Lizelotte will come smiling~”

Cruel. It was so cruel that it couldn’t even be expressed in words.
It was that horrible of a smile. I want to cry.

And, that smile was directed towards the head of the Pitbulls.
I thought that he was trembling like he had been hit by lightning, but he returned to his normal self immediately after and suddenly knelt down on one knee on the carpet.
And,

“...How wonderful. A truly wonderful command.
I shall gladly accompany you to battle. Queen, my pleasure.”

That was the first time he properly obeyed me.

You gotta be kidding me.