The Moganda Star Region.
A star-region territory once jointly administered by the Black Wolf tribe and the Black Tiger tribe.
Because two tribes administered it together, there were two king-worlds here.[1]
The former Black Wolf tribe's king-world.
It was greatly unlike what it had been; but by reason of its natural position, close to the star port.
Its growth now far surpassed what it was before!
Upon the Black Wolf king-world, 60% were still of the Black Wolf people; the rest were other beast-folk inhabitants, or those who came here upon business.
"Have you heard! Today the auction house has an article not to be believed. A T2 Snow-Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship, five years old! That is Owl Dragon goods, past all doubt! A warship that once served in the Owl Dragon Legion. They say the opening bid will be 30 million star coins!"
"What, are you tempted? Would you have a hand in it?"
"Who would not be tempted? To get hold of an Owl Dragon warship now, never mind using it oneself; to sell it again hereafter would be no trouble at all!"
"There is no war to fight now; what do you want with a combat-type warship?"
"There you are wrong. It is the age of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire indeed, and none dare bluster against the Owl Dragon Empire. But there are still not a few interstellar pirates. When those interstellar transport fleets hire warships for escort, it is only Owl Dragon-line warships now. They will not so much as look at other makes! Think of that T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer I had such trouble buying, in only a year its price had fallen by three parts in ten![2] Had I known, I should have bought the Northern Goose Group's T2 Tibetan-Mastiff-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer! Put that up for sale now and it will even fetch a tenth more. So it is Owl Dragon-line warships I watch now; other warships I will not spare a glance!"
"Whatever the reason, I advise you all to put it out of your heads. With those few coppers in your pockets. Buying a T2 Tibetan-Mastiff will do well enough. You would buy a T2 Snow-Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship? You think an opening bid of 30 million star coins means 30 million star coins? I hear someone has bid 40 million already, meaning to take this T2 Snow-Mastiff!"
Within the tavern the talk went on without cease.
But the great part of it could hardly get free of the Owl Dragon as a subject.
Anyone knocking about the world now who cannot say two words upon the subject of the Owl Dragon is a bumpkin outright.
A figure stood upon a certain square.
A sun-hat covered her face, but by her coloring and her build she should be a woman of the Black Wolf tribe.
She was looking up at this moment at the statue before her.
It was a very ancient statue, and its subject was a warrior of the Black Wolf tribe.
"What are you doing here?"
A somewhat anxious voice came from behind her.
"Aunt Wendy." The Black Wolf woman turned her head and looked at her aunt, armed and covered even more thoroughly than herself, and nearly laughed aloud.
"How can you be so careless! Do not forget what you are. In so public a place as this, what if you were found out?" Aunt Wendy took hold of her, meaning to draw her away.
"Aunt Wendy, I like being here. You know that I grew up here from a child. What I loved most to do when I was small was to climb up upon Great-Grandfather's statue. And every time my father saw it, he would chase me down and beat me." There was an ease in the Black Wolf woman's voice.
"You… ah…" Aunt Wendy looked at her in this ease of hers.
She sighed, and glanced carefully about her: "Are you sure… have you no fear for your own safety?"
"To speak truly? I have been hiding and dodging some three years now. These three years I have done nothing but hide. But in the moment I stood here. Suddenly I no longer wished to hide. I only wanted to stand here, and look at the statue, and feel the sea wind. Aunt, will you keep me company a while?" The Black Wolf woman looked the way the statue faced, which was the sea.
Aunt Wendy sighed.
She could only indulge the Black Wolf woman in this choice; the two of them picked an open-air bench and sat down upon it.
Passers-by went by them now and again,
wholly unaware that the one sitting here was the princess of their own Black Wolf tribe, gone these several years!
"Princess…"
"Aunt Wendy, there is no princess here any longer. Call me Cynthia, and that will do." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia said it with a smile.
Aunt Wendy opened her mouth, and still the word would not come out of it.
Among their wolf-folk, rank and standing are things of the greatest weight, cut into the blood, one might say.
"Aunt Wendy. Why is this statue still here? Did they give no order to pull it down?" The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia looked at the statue in her curiosity.
That statue was in fact the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's great-grandfather.
She had thought that once the Black Wolf tribe's rule was overthrown, everything of the former Black Wolf tribe would be wiped away.
She had not thought this statue would still be standing.
Aunt Wendy said, with a complicated look: "It is so; I did not think it either at the time. But afterward I heard that it was that marshal of the White Wolf tribe who said it. The Black Wolf general was once one of the wolf-folk too, and fought for the wolf-folk. What the later generations did has nothing to do with this Black Wolf hero. So this statue may not be pulled down. And is to be kept in good order besides."
"A Black Wolf hero?" The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's feelings were somewhat tangled.
She had not thought that woman would use such a name for her own great-grandfather.
Though there was indeed such a matter.
In those days the Black Wolf tribe had not yet split away from the wolf-folk.
"Let us not speak of that. Aunt Wendy, have you lived well these several years? Have they… have they bullied you?" the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia asked in some concern.
But Aunt Wendy shook her head and said with a smile: "Bullying there has been none. After we… after we were defeated. That part of the Black Wolf tribe which stayed here chose to surrender. And the Owl Dragon, which accepted our surrender, did not call the Black Wolf tribe to account. It only picked out certain commanders who had fought against the Owl Dragon Legion, and tried them. And those commanders who had committed acts of war in the campaigns pursuing the revolutionary army. The heaviest were several Black Wolf commanders who had once slaughtered prisoners; they were sentenced to death. The rest were broadly given terms of some decades' imprisonment. And the family estates concerned were for the most part confiscated. Only a few Black Wolf houses, which had never been much involved in the fighting, came forward upon this chance. Our own family's holdings were taken up entire at first, and little wealth was left us. But do you remember that Sari family we once helped? They have close dealings with the Owl Dragon now, and are one of the great houses of the Black Wolf tribe. He relieves us a little in private. And finds us work. It is not the wealth of before, but at least there is no trouble in living."