A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 44: Words That Cannot Be Taken Back

"Hurry up and help me!"

For now, he really wished they would stop shouting.

"This may come as a surprise, but we are just ordinary civilians, and we have absolutely nothing to do with that loud and stupid brat over there."

He firmly stated that they were not acquainted with the idiot who had been yelling for help at the top of his lungs.

"W-wh—who are you calling a stupid brat?! You! Take that back!"

"The fact that you immediately knew it was about you means you’ve already acknowledged it yourself, doesn’t it? Is there really any need to correct it?"

"Y-you bastard!"

"......"

The men who had been on guard after the appearance of new people seemed utterly speechless at the argument unfolding before them.

In truth, they really were unrelated and being dragged into this mess because they were mistaken for acquaintances would be unbearable.

"We apologize, but we are still in the middle of our work, so we’ll be taking our leave here—"

"Y-you’re saying your own work is more important than me?!"

"Yes."

What was so strange about that?

"W-what?!"

On the contrary, Qiong Xing could not understand what there was to be so surprised about

.

The medicinal herb gathering request that he and the others had accepted was a perfectly respectable job and it was an important source of income that provided no small amount of funds for him and the others as well.

Why should they stop that work just to help some noisy brat who was yelling at them to help him?

"I-I am a prince! A prince of this country is telling you to help me, so hurry u— ...what are those beastmen?! Don’t tell me you were the one who set me up in a trap!"

He seemed to have started spouting incomprehensible claims again.

Only now did he appear to notice Leander and the others standing behind Qiong Xing, and he accused them of being the reason he had been captured.

It made absolutely no sense.

How did he even reach that conclusion?

"I can’t believe you’d bring such filthy beasts along with you. You must have trapped me on purpose and planned to pretend to save me to get some kind of reward, didn’t you? Hah, you think I wouldn’t notice such a pathetic scheme—"

"...Be quiet."

"Who are you telling to be quiet? Just having such ugly slaves proves their master is an idiot as we—gh!"

"I believe I told you to be quiet."

Qiong Xing quietly stepped closer to the blabbering idiot prince and covered his mouth with his hand.

Just how far did he intend to go in insulting people?

If it were insults directed at himself, he could tolerate any amount of them.

But if he insulted Leander and the others, that was a different matter entirely.

Filthy?

Beasts?

Ugly?

How could he say such things so easily?

Why could he not realize that the one who was truly ugly was himself?

"They are my precious family. If you continue to insult my precious family any further, I will never forgive you."

"Qiong Xing."

"Qiong Xing!"

"Mama."

Elias tried to stop him, saying it was dangerous, but Qiong Xing did not care.

What was the point of calling them family if he could not even protect what was important to him?

Perhaps sensing the sudden change in Qiong Xing, the man finally fell silent.

"The reason you are caught like this is the result of your own irresponsible actions and it’s purely your own doing. We have done nothing to do with it and there is no reason for us to be insulted like this. And yet you hurl abuse at us without even a word of apology. To still claim you are a prince after that is nothing but a joke. You should be ashamed of yourself."

No one could move as Qiong Xing spoke calmly without averting his gaze.

That was, except for one man who arrived afterward.

"Hahaha, looks like there’s a pretty impressive kid around. Calling beasts like us family, huh? Sounds like it was a good dose of medicine for His Highness the prince too, don’t you think?"

The big man said this with a booming laugh and his face bore a massive scar running from his forehead down to his chin.

Who might you be?

Just as he was wondering why a big man he did not recognize had suddenly appeared, his head was patted for some reason.

The rubbing was done with quite a bit of force and his neck started to ache in a subtle but persistent way.

"Hey kid, what’s your name?"

"Huh? ...Ah, um, my name is Qiong Xing."

When he greeted the man with a "nice to meet you," the big man laughed and started rubbing his head again.

That’s why his neck hurt!

But without stopping his hand, the big man also asked Leander and the others for their names.

"Qiong Xing, huh. You guys sure found yourselves a pretty good master. Ah, no, wait, family, was it? You’re saying family? First time I’ve ever seen a human call beastmen their family."

He seemed to have taken quite a liking to him as the hand that was rubbing his head showed no sign of stopping.

Just as Qiong Xing was thinking that his neck might be reaching its limit, a hand pulled him back from behind and rescued him.

"Qiong Xing may be family, but he’s also our mate. Don’t touch him without permission!"

As Leander hugged Qiong Xing protectively, Elias also stepped forward and positioning himself as if to shield him.

"Our mate? With both of you? Damn, that’s impressive for such a cute face. Then what about that little one over there... is he your kid?"

"We’re not related by blood, but he is our child."

When Qiong Xing picked up Cari, who had been clinging nervously to his leg the whole time, Cari wrapped his arms tightly around his neck.

As expected, their child was adorable.