The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

The man was truly outrageous.

In other words, he was rude.

“Don’t jesters these days know any manners? You dare bring your muddy feet into the mansion without the master’s permission?”

“We’re not a circus troupe. We’re guests invited by Lord Roman Dane, the Margrave. If I may ask, who might you be?”

“Ah, I see. So your lizards aren’t jesters but slaves. With so many fine furry creatures around, you choose to keep scaly slaves. Quite the peculiar taste. Hahaha.”

Daria remained unfazed by the man’s rude remarks and introduced us, but the man only looked at us suspiciously.

Though he didn’t answer our question, I could infer his identity from his words.

The only one who could call the Margrave “brother” was Tirving Roman.

“These people here are not slaves—”

“Enough. I don’t care if they’re slaves or jesters. Even if my brother invited you in his name, it’s unacceptable for someone of my noble lineage, the Roman family, to allow you into this mansion.”

Tirving cut Daria off, waving his hand dismissively as if to prove my thoughts correct.

His behavior was that of a textbook ruffian.

But this level of rudeness was within our expectations.

The Spine Empire was one of the continent’s most powerful nations, and also a nation of human supremacists.

I felt grateful anew that the Margrave had written us an invitation. Thanks to it, we hadn’t been harassed by nobles on our way to the imperial capital.

“Kurt, let’s just leave.”

“Why all of a sudden? You were so excited earlier about visiting a noble’s mansion.”

“I can’t stay in the same mansion as someone who treats you so rudely. No matter how grand a noble’s mansion is, I’d refuse even if they begged me to stay.”

“Don’t worry about that. Did you really think we wouldn’t hear such things coming to the Empire? The imperial capital is practically the Emperor’s front yard. We can’t afford to make enemies with nobles here and draw attention.”

Then Tirving looked at Mari with a displeased expression and spoke.

“However, as a noble of the Empire, it’s not right to heartlessly cast out the lowly. Hehehe. That elf girl over there. You’re my type. If you serve as a maid in this mansion, I might consider allowing your companions to stay.”

…What?

“This bastard, what did he just say—”

“Ku, Kurt! Please calm down! I’m fine, really!”

But—

“Hahaha! Just kidding. Don’t beasts understand jokes? If it’s the will of the great and noble Margrave, this humble servant can only bow his head and obey. You may stay in this mansion. However, while you’re here, stay quiet and humble. Hahaha!”

With that, the man sipped his wine and left with the elf servants, who naturally guided us inside.

Because of that, we missed our chance to refuse and leave the mansion.

.

.

.

I didn’t want to spend even a single night in a mansion with a creep who leered at Mari, but persuaded by her insistence that she was fine, I suppressed my irritation and moved inside.

“I’m fine. I appreciate that you want to beat that damn noble to within an inch of his life, cripple him, and make him beg for mercy while surviving on nothing but soup, but I can endure this level of insult.”

“No, I wasn’t planning to go that far…”

Mari seemed angrier at the noble Tirving than I expected.

Once our luggage was settled, we gathered in an unused parlor.

Though called a parlor, it was spacious enough to comfortably fit over ten people. As expected of an imperial noble’s mansion, it was extravagantly luxurious.

“First, thank you for enduring that. And I’m sorry. We’ve come this close to meeting the Emperor; we can’t afford to ruin things by acting rashly.”

“Tch. It’s not your fault to apologize for. The blame lies with that ruffian noble.”

Daria apologized for not being able to shield us, but how could that be her fault?

“Hoo. Alright. We’ll just have to endure for a few days. We’ve come this far; it’d be foolish to ruin everything over a petty quarrel.”

“Ha! Did you see the elves around that guy? He only keeps elves as servants, no other races. He’s definitely a huge pervert! Once this is over, I’ll burn his head to a crisp with fire magic!”

“Mari, it’d be best to avoid going outside and encountering him while we’re here.”

“Sigh. Alright. I’ll do my best to avoid him.”

In the end, we concluded that we’d avoid the ruffian noble Tirving Roman as much as possible and ignore any provocations.

We hadn’t gathered here just to gossip about a disagreeable ruffian.

“Let’s move on to the main topic. Daria, now that we’ve arrived in the imperial capital, you must have a plan for what’s next, right?”

“Don’t worry. We didn’t charge into the imperial capital without any plan. While the details depend on the local situation, I’ve outlined a general framework.”

“That’s Daria for you. So, let’s hear this plan.”

“The Spine Empire wasn’t always one of the continent’s great powers. Originally, it was just another human-supremacist state—”

Wait, why are we suddenly talking about history?

“Hold on. Why are we suddenly discussing history?”

“Just listen. To explain the plan, I need to talk about the Spine Empire’s history, which I intended to discuss before we arrived at the mansion. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief.”

If she insists, we have no choice.

Despite the sudden history lesson, my companions and I decided to listen.

Though Kirsh, Lakia, and Shu, who’ve never been interested in world affairs, started goofing off.

“Of course, no nation starts as a great power. Originally, the Empire was just another human-supremacist state.”

“…Can you really call that normal?”

“It’s normal in a sense. Closed-off states centered around specific human races were common. Even the elf and dwarf villages where Marisia and Serena lived were exclusive societies centered around a single race, just not on a national scale.”

Daria wasn’t wrong.

In this world, racial differences are far more significant than skin color differences in past lives.

There are vast cultural and even greater biological differences between races.

For such races to coexist, facilities, tools, clothing, and food must be segregated, requiring immense resources and administrative effort.

Thus, unless a nation is large enough, a single-race society is more efficient.

“That may be, but… equating them with the Empire feels a bit off.”

“Well, that’s true. The Empire is exceptionally racist even among single-race states. The Spine Empire—no, at the time, it was just the Spine Kingdom—claimed to be descendants of the Ancient Empire, using their enslavement of beastkin as justification to harshly oppress them and look down on other human races. It was just a small to medium-sized state.

Even the Holy Kingdom, while concerned about the Spine Kingdom’s actions, didn’t see them as a major threat. Their extreme human-supremacist ideology caused conflicts with neighboring races, making it seem like the Spine Kingdom would soon collapse.

But strangely, about a century ago, the Spine Kingdom began rapidly expanding. Suspiciously fast. Instead of collapsing, they started conquering and absorbing rival races and tribes.”

“Wait, could it be…?”

“Yes. At the time, the Holy Kingdom couldn’t find the cause of the Spine Kingdom’s rapid growth… But based on current clues, that period coincides with when the ancient court mage, whose old notebook Kurt found, made contact with the Spine Empire.”

So that insane ancient mage turned a self-proclaimed descendant of the Ancient Empire, a fascist human-supremacist state, into a true great power.

In the end, the Spine Empire itself was a massive garden cultivated by that mad mage.

“The important point isn’t just that we’ve gained circumstantial evidence of an Ancient Empire figure behind the Spine Empire. The Kingdom’s growth absorbed neighboring races at an incredible rate, creating the current Empire, but such rapid growth naturally brought hidden side effects.”

Finally, Daria’s story reached its main point.

“Namely, the races reduced to second-class citizens and slaves by the Empire: elves, dwarves, and beastkin. Decades after being annexed, as long as the Empire treats them as second-class citizens and slaves, they can’t assimilate into the Empire.”

Forced imperial expansion, discrimination between conquered peoples and natives, violence, and plunder.

Unassimilated cultures and races.

A familiar story.

“Resistance fighters, then.”

“Yes. Precisely, they’re called the Resistance, and they continue to fight for their rights and liberation in the Empire’s shadows. Naturally, the Holy Kingdom, which opposes racial discrimination, is connected to the Empire’s internal Resistance. We plan to enlist their help to thwart the Empire’s schemes.”

“So we’re mobilizing armed forces after all.”

“…It’s not yet decided that we’ll clash directly with the Empire. The Empire’s land is foreign to us, so their help is indispensable.”

Daria said we wouldn’t necessarily fight the Empire, but her voice lacked confidence.

Of course, if it could be resolved through dialogue, that’d be ideal. But with the Empire secretly building dimensional gates on a national scale, the chances of a peaceful resolution were slim. If it came to armed conflict, our role would be to disrupt them until the Holy Kingdom could intervene militarily.

Only then did the weight of the situation begin to sink in, and my companions grew somber.

And the portrait on the parlor wall silently watched us in our heavy silence.

---