A certain General’s heart-pounding captive life (1).
Shamcats’ General’s Point of View
I was the youngest general to rise through the ranks in Shamcats, achieving numerous military honors. I was confident in my skills and well-versed in tactics. I never doubted my own excellence—until that day.
"Uwaaaahhh!"
"G-General!"
"Don't break formation! Hold the line! Archers—damn it!"
A massive, beautiful monster. An eagle’s head, a lion’s body, and bird-like wings that shimmered like crystal. No sword or arrow could pierce its hardened body. Even magic swords were useless. It was on a different level. It was no surprise that the archers, trembling with fear, fled.
And it wasn’t just this monster. There were numerous dragons. Warriors who possessed strength beyond that of humans or beastfolk.
"Hey! You two! Don’t overdo it!"
""Yeees~""
Terrifying children who rendered soldier after soldier incapacitated with burns or frostbite.
"Wahahahahaha!!"
"Geraldin-san, you too! Don’t go overboard!"
A warrior who dashed through the battlefield with fearless might, cutting down enemy after enemy.
"Rosariiin!!"
"As expected of Fake-rin Your follow-ups are spot on."
"Rosariiin..."
She fidgeted shyly, but her precise magic and support were nothing to underestimate.
Yet, among them, there was an even more fearsome presence.
"Alright, come on out, my zombie friends!"
With a slithering motion, the shadow of a canine beastman stirred, and grotesque figures of our fallen comrades crawled across the ground.
Their murky eyes spoke clearly—they had perished. They could no longer speak, only groan.
"St-Stay back... No... aaaaahhh!"
"Don't falter! Fight!"
"NOOOOO! I don’t want to end up like that!!"
"Run... Run! We can't possibly win! There's no way we can defeat these monsters!"
"Hold your ground! Damn it!"
As if the situation wasn’t already hopeless, this was the final straw. My subordinates panicked, my orders fell on deaf ears. No one was listening.
I tried to put my comrades, whose very existence had been twisted, to rest. But the moment I swung my sword, their movements changed—they covered my mouth.
As my consciousness faded, I saw my crying subordinates being silenced in the same way. And then—I lost consciousness.
When I awoke, we were all stark naked and restrained. As beastfolk, nudity carried no shame or discomfort. In our beast forms, the cold didn’t bother us either. However, the absence of weapons left me uneasy.
"You took them alive, but what now?"
Their leader seemed to be that young man. The undead clung to him. Their murky eyes remained eerie, but near him, they seemed to be faintly smiling.
"Hmm?"
The young man began dressing the undead in the clothes taken from us, muttering to himself. Snippets of his words reached my ears: "Needs more realism..." and "For bloodstains..." I couldn't make sense of it. And he wasn't even paying attention to the discussion about our fate.
"My Lord..."
The older wolf-eared man whimpered sorrowfully.
"My Lord, the fake Geraldin is crying in sadness."
"Huh? Oh, sorry... Um, who are you... This scent and magic power—Dungeon Master-san!?"
"Indeed, it is I. That massive form would only get in the way, so I took on a human shape. It has been a while—do I seem strange?"
"Uwaahhh... You're incredibly beautiful! You look perfectly human! Please model for me later! But first, I’m getting hungry—let's eat!"
The young man’s expression as he spoke to the beautiful man was pure and innocent, like that of a child.
Soon, they began preparing a meal. Simple bread and soup stew. I envied them. I had only eaten rations for the past few days, so I couldn’t help but stare. It smelled delicious.
"Alright, here you go."
To my surprise, the young man gave us food. Even untied our restraints.
"If it's not enough, just let me know."
His smile was utterly innocent.
"W-We’re your enemies. Why would you feed us? Wouldn't it be easier to let us starve to death?"
"... Being hungry is sad and painful, isn't it? I know just how awful it feels. I don’t want anyone else to suffer like that. Besides, I don’t want to be your enemy."
With that, the young man walked away to serve more stew. The stew was—delicious.
By the way, some of us tried to take advantage of being unbound and attempted to escape or attack, only to be met with passionate kisses from the undead.
"Wait! Why are you doing that!? What? It's an effective form of powerful psychological attack that makes them docile!? Where did you even learn that!?"
At least, I was relieved to learn that the passionate kisses weren’t the young man’s direct orders.
Apparently, his instruction had simply been to "stop them without being too rough." It was highly effective—needless to say, every single one of us, myself included, became completely obedient.
What do you think about this chapter?
