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I found myself rushing through preparations for the secret meeting in the Labyrinth City of Zaria.
Aylia’s protection couldn’t be entrusted to ordinary humans.
But if the guards looked obviously demonic, the lord of Zaria would surely object. This was a top-secret meeting, after all.

“Which means, werewolves are the only option…”

We really are a convenient race.
Lüenheit’s defensive strength is more than sufficient even without the werewolf unit, so this time I decided to take the entire werewolf force with us.

I summoned Big Sister Fern and gave her these instructions.

“Fern, can you form an all-female squad? Since they’ll be guarding Aylia, it’s better if they’re the same gender. Humans will also let their guard down more.”
“That makes sense. They could pose as maids, too… With seventeen women in the werewolf unit, we could form four squads.”

Since we brought over as many werewolves as we could from the hidden village, the proportion of women is unusually high. Unlike other units, they’re apparently popular with some people for being more ‘colorful.’
Well, there are also plenty of mature women like Grandma Marie…
It’s kind of split between young unmarried women and middle-aged women who’ve finished raising their kids.

“There’s also the chance of an attack while not transformed, so take that into account when organizing them. This is a covert visit, so we can’t bring too many people.”
“Then I’ll select elite members from the younger ones and reorganize them into a single squad. I’ll be the squad leader, if that’s okay? And I’ll borrow Monsa as a member.”
“Yeah, do that.”

I decided not to interfere too much with personnel matters involving women and left everything to Big Sister Fern.
There are far too many things about the world of women that I don’t understand.
As they say, let sleeping werewolves lie.

Separate from the female team that would serve as Aylia’s personal guard, I was also selecting werewolves to protect me personally.
They needed not just strength, but quick thinking. This time especially, we had to be wary of assassination.
In that case, Hammarn seemed like a good choice. Like Monsa, he’s good at tailing and infiltration.
Hammarn is an immigrant from the desert, and it seems he used to be part of a bandit group. He’s exceptionally skilled at ambushes.
He’s also accustomed to fighting in human form and can use swords and bows—a valuable werewolf indeed.
Influenced by him, the unit Hammarn lead has gradually become specialized in ambush tactics. Lately, people have started calling them the “assassination squad.”
Werewolves are generally specialists in launching ambushes, but the Hammarn unit is also adept at detecting them.
All right, that settles it.
I’ll make the Hammarn unit my personal guard. Four guards wouldn’t look unnatural for a lord’s covert escort.

That makes two squads, eight people in total. On the surface, it’ll look like four male guards and four maids.
For a lord traveling incognito, that seems about right. Having dozens of people crowding indoors wouldn’t be very useful anyway.
With eight people, they should easily handle around twenty assassins.
The remaining members will handle security along the route. After arrival, they’ll wait outside Zaria, securing our escape route and such.
Of course, if anything happens, they can also be used to storm into the city and rescue us.
Since they’ll look like ordinary humans, they shouldn’t draw much suspicion.
Yeah, this should be fine.

That said, the werewolf unit also has regular duties like maintaining public order. If I’m taking everyone, I’ll need to arrange proper handovers during our absence.
So I decided to head into town to look for Baltze, who’s in charge of maintaining security in the demon capital.
The Azure Scale Knights are always on patrol, after all.

As I walked through the old city district, sure enough, I found Baltze at the guard station—which is practically the police box. His subordinate dragonfolk soldiers were nearby as well.
But something seemed off.
He was holding something very carefully.

“Sir Baltze, is something the matter?”

When I called out to him, Baltze turned around.

“Ah, Lord Veit. You’ve come at just the right time.”

What he was cautiously holding was, to my surprise, a human baby. The child was sleeping peacefully.
Judging by the look of it, the baby’s neck was steady, but standing was still out of the question.

Peering nervously at the infant in his arms, Baltze spoke.

“A female citizen entrusted us with a male infant.”
“And why would she…?”
“A nearby resident suddenly collapsed, apparently. She asked us to look after the child while she tends to him.”

In Lüenheit, the guard corps often acts like a general help service for the town, but I hadn’t expected people to ask demons with the same casual attitude.
It seems the dragonfolk, too, are gradually being accepted by the citizens.

Baltze stared intently at the baby’s face.
Seeing how serious his expression was, I asked him.

“Did you notice anything suspicious?”
“Ah, no. Nothing of that sort. I was just wondering… whether he bears any resemblance to His Late Majesty.”
“Why?”

I was surprised, but apparently reincarnation has become quite a trend among the demons lately.
Originally, demons didn’t have a concept of reincarnation.
They believed ancestral spirits were always with their descendants, protecting them—or else sleeping in the underworld. That was the prevailing image.
But among humans, the idea of reincarnation exists. Memories of past lives are lost, of course, but the soul is considered immortal.
Demons who’ve begun living alongside humans seem to have taken an interest in this new way of thinking.
As a result, astrologer Mithi’s place apparently has lines of demons waiting every day.
They come with questions like, “Has my fallen comrade been reincarnated somewhere?” or “Where is my deceased parent’s soul now?”

The dragonfolk aren’t a race particularly interested in magic or spiritual matters, but even so, the idea that “His Late Majesty might have been reborn somewhere” seems to hold a certain appeal.
Still, I gave a wry smile.

“If he were reborn, wouldn’t he be a dragonfolk baby?”

There are exceptions like me—someone who came from another world and even class-changed from human to werewolf—but that’s obviously a secret.
Baltze shook his head.

“According to the astrologer Mithi, reincarnation can occur across races. Given His Late Majesty’s guardian star, it’s possible he was reborn as a human.”
“Hahaha, surely not.”

I laughed it off, but I’ll keep it a secret that my heart was pounding.
Baltze suddenly looked a little lonely.

“I haven’t fully come to trust humans yet. After all, it was a human hero who killed His Late Majesty.”

Ah, right. That’s true.
Plenty of people must have grown to hate humans because of that.
But as Baltze gazed at the baby’s sleeping face, he murmured:

“Still, when I think that this child might be His Late Majesty reborn, I find myself wishing for happiness in this child’s future. …It truly is strange.”

Just as I found myself falling silent, a young woman came running up from the distance.

“I’m so sorry! The old man next door is fine now! It was just a mild stroke!”

Baltze turned toward her with a relieved expression.

“That is good to hear. Now then, let us return your son.”

The woman held out the bundle she was carrying.

“Thank you so much. This is smoked chicken—dragonfolk like it, right? The old man insisted it be given as thanks.”
“No, we merely looked after your son as part of our duties—”

Seeing Baltze flustered, I cut in from the side.

“That just means they were truly grateful, Sir Baltze. It’s the custom here, so accept it.”
“I-is that so? Then we shall accept it.”

Baltze fumbled awkwardly, unable to manage exchanging both the baby and the bundle at the same time.
The surrounding dragonfolk soldiers were also completely at a loss when it came to a human infant, and they were visibly flustered.

Can’t be helped. I’ll help out.

“Let me hold the baby for a moment.”

In this life, I didn’t have any younger siblings, but I’d often helped look after neighbors’ babies back in the secret village. Holding one was nothing new to me.
The baby was passed from dragonfolk to werewolf, and finally back into the mother’s arms.

“Oh dear. Seems like my boy fell asleep so soundly in your care, captain.”

Baltze let out a relieved sigh.

“I’m glad nothing happened to either the old man or the child.”
“I’m sorry for the trouble, but thank you so much.”

The woman bowed repeatedly before heading back the way she came.

Baltze and the others visibly relaxed, their shoulders dropping.

“Even when surrounded by hundreds of human warriors on the battlefield, I don’t feel tense. Yet I never thought a single baby would make me this nervous.”
“You did well. Having been protected by the dragonfolk hero, the Azure Knight, that child will surely grow into a brave man.”
“I hope so. By the way, did you see any resemblance to His Late Majesty?”

There’s no way I could possibly know that.

“Who can say…”

Am I going to get asked this question every time I encounter a baby?