The appearance of half-beastmen had been a tragedy from beginning to end.
The war between beastmen and humans had stretched on for thousands of years. They saw each other as their greatest enemies, and whenever one side gained the upper hand, burning, killing, looting, and plundering became natural means of retaliation.
Half-beastmen were born against such a backdrop.
Human and beastman blood flowed through their bodies. Looking on the bright side, they might possess both the strength of beastmen and the wisdom of humans. Looking on the darker side, they might inherit human frailty and beastman barbarism.
This race born of mixed blood had continued to be born and multiply throughout the war that had lasted over a thousand years. Their numbers had steadily grown, and by today, they had become a major race whose population could not be ignored.
Yet lives whose very birth was filled with contradiction were naturally unwelcome on either side.
Humans despised the beastlike parts of them and regarded them as heretics. Even after the passage of time had made peaceful coexistence possible, most people still instinctively remained wary of them.
Or, to put it more bluntly, they hated and discriminated against them.
The beastmen, meanwhile, looked down even more on their impure blood, mocked their comparatively weaker strength, drove them from their territories, and left them to fend for themselves.
Born as half-beastmen, both Laina and Ally had endured far too many jeers and cold stares...
Ally had once tried to make friends on her own initiative, but whenever people saw the beastlike parts of her body, even kind-hearted ones would only offer a slightly apologetic smile before hurrying away.
And far more often, she faced contempt and hostility.
She had suffered too much scorn and cruelty. In the end, she clutched her scarred