Still, given the intensity of the mood, if he argued back, he would likely be lectured, so Qiong Xing simply nodded obediently.

"...Um, are you alright? Are you still alive?"

He is alive.

Sarin collapsed flat on the ground, and Qiong Xing gently spoke to him, but the twins still had plenty of energy left.

Finding Sarin’s collapse amusing, they poked at him repeatedly while playing.

"I really underestimated children’s stamina."

"No, it is impressive you lasted this long. As expected."

Qiong Xing accepted a hand and stood up, while the cold water offered to him felt refreshing against his overheated body.

"Thank you. Still, they are amazing. I was fairly confident in my stamina, but those two still seem like they have not had enough playtime."

Seeing that Sarin was truly done for, the twins had moved on to playing with their fathers instead.

It was mysterious how such small bodies could hold so much energy.

"Yes, indeed. In that sense, I am not really considered a play partner at all."

When Qiong Xing was around, the twins apparently avoided him during active play and would instead run straight to their fathers.

"Maybe it is just how they feel?"

"No. The other day, I told them, ’Mama will play too,’ and they just silently shook their heads."

"..."

There was no possible way to recover from that.

"They ask me to read picture books and things like that. But the moment they realize they can run outside, I am completely ignored."

"...I see."

There was nothing else he could say.

"So I tried to join them and run together, but they immediately shouted ’No Mama!’ at me."

It was a parent child relationship that was hard to make sense of.

"Uhhh... ahh... maybe they are just being considerate? Like they do not want to make you overexert yourself..."

Even Qiong Xing ended up internally questioning what kind of child he was describing.

"...Yes, that is exactly it. I asked them why it was not allowed, and they said Mama does ouchie-ouchie, so it is not allowed. I think they understand they have more stamina than me, so they are probably just telling me not to push myself."

Seriously?

He had only half been joking, but it seemed they were genuinely worried.

"Apparently beastmen rarely catch colds. Albe and the others from the demon race are also quite physically strong. So when I caught a cold and collapsed, it was a huge shock for them."

"Y-you collapsed? Are you alright?!"

Sarin panicked, saying he had not heard anything about that.

He was told that he had recovered and was fine now.

Still, seeing their mother bedridden with a high fever had made a strong impression on the twins, especially when they were made to stay away for several days so they would not catch it too.

It was likely that, in their childish way, they had concluded they must not let their Mama overexert himself.

"Beastmen really are incredible. Not only their stamina, but their growth speed is astonishing."

Even Lian who had not been born long ago would not normally be able to move around like that.

"At this point, it is hard to deny that we humans, who keep them as slaves, are simply foolish."

They were clearly inferior, yet acted as if they had the right to command them to do this and that.

Without collars, they would likely be able to turn the tables at any time, and yet humans had to lower their heads and ask them for help.

"That is precisely why people want to keep them under control. I do not agree with it, but that is how I see it."

Fear of those stronger than oneself often leads to the desire to place them under control.

"By the way, I once asked something at the guild before."

"What did you ask?"

Sarin not knowing about it meant it must have been when he was not present.

"I asked a beastman working at the guild whether being a slave was painful."

Since when had that happened?

"...What did you say?"

Depending on the answer, Sarin feared that Qiong Xing might end up looking down on them.

"I was told they are fortunate."

...Fortunate?

"Yes. It is true they have no freedom, and there are difficult things, but they’re glad that they can work here. They know how that their fellow beastmen are treated elsewhere. Compared to that, here they have food provided and a place to sleep. So they consider themself fortunate."

"..."

Things that would be natural for humans were difficult for them, and therefore something to be grateful for.

No meaningless violence.

No worrying about whether there would be food.

No sleeping on cold floors while shivering.

"So just that alone makes them think we are good people?"

Unlike other staff, the enslaved workers were not paid no matter how much they worked.

Still, they were provided food and shelter as humans.

And for that alone, they expressed gratitude and called it fortune.

Now Sarin could clearly see how cruel that really was.

"We are not asking you to treat them as equals or to grant them freedom. We just want you to understand one thing. That they are living beings."

Living beings...

"Just as Leander and the others love me, and as Rui and Yue worry about me, they are also living beings with feelings and will. Please do not think of them as tools for work. Please see them as people."

They are not objects, but people.

It was not something someone merely told him.

Coming from Qiong Xing who lived alongside beastmen those words carried weight and struck deeply in Sarin’s heart.

"You are... as I thought, truly remarkable. Very remarkable."

"Thank you very much."

Sarin was sincerely grateful that he had met him.

"Are you not afraid of us?"

While watching Qiong Xing help Sarin who had collapsed from a distance, she spoke to the man sitting in front of her who is the twins’ father with Lian on her lap.