What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

Chapter 871: Different Roles In Their Society

I managed to hold myself back out of politeness and just let the girl cook.

I tried to keep my mind off of it by talking to the Dragonling across from me, "So... Umm... I guess we should talk now?"

Vieretha steepled her fingers in front of her, "Hmm... You are not interested in this setup at all? It feels almost like... You’ve seen all this before?"

"Ah... Well... I have eaten at a place like this before... And I do know how to cook as well, to be honest."

"Oh? You can cook too? My, my... My interest in you is just increasing more and more, Lady Tera."

I cleared my throat, "Ahem... So yeah... Anyway... As I was saying... We can talk now, right?"

"Fufufu~ Yea, of course. Since this is your first time meeting a Dragonling like me, I suppose you would like to know more about us, right?"

That wasn’t what I wanted to ask but... It’s actually true that I do want to know more about the Dragonling civilisation as well so I wouldn’t say no to that.

As though she knew that was the case, Vieretha simply started to talk while rubbing the edge of her glass of water with a finger idly.

"Hmm... Where should I begin? I suppose I should just talk about the things that would interest outsiders the most~ As I already told you before, our hierarchy is based on the colour of our scales. The darker the colour, the higher up the hierarchy you are."

"Yes, you mentioned it on the ride here earlier..." I reminded her.

"Hmmm~ That’s right. So as you can see, my scales could be described as a pretty dark colour~"

"I can see that... Are you going to tell me that your family is like... The royal family or something?"

"Oh my? No, no, fufufu~ We’re not that high up, Lady Tera. I suppose our family is one of the highest underneath the royal family but we are most definitely not the Royal Family. Although I should say that we technically have more influence in some areas as compared to the Royal Family~"

Great... I sure hope her family isn’t planning a coup or something...

"So who are the ones at the bottom of the hierarchy?" I asked.

"Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s the white dragons of course."

"And what are their positions in your society?"

"Fufufu~ Naturally, most of them are slaves or servants, Lady Tera."

I would have said that I was surprised to hear that but... I’m honestly not.

Considering the fact that slavery was something deemed as normal in this universe, hearing that a group of people in another civilisation was automatically made a slave just because of their scale colour was just not that surprising to me anymore.

"I’m surprised that there isn’t a revolt or something..." I commented offhandedly. "I would have thought that there would at least be some kind of uprising amongst your enslaved caste since they have access to the GalaNet, right?"

She smiled at me, "Fufufu~ I understand your concerns but there is no possibility of that happening. You see, in our society, the colour of our scales determine your position in the hierarchy not because of something as arbitrary as just a right that was given to you at birth. It’s a sign of the responsibilities you have to shoulder at birth."

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"It means that a Black Dragonling is expected to take care of everyone below them because they are born with that responsibility. Everyone else is born with the idea that they have to support the Dragonlings placed above them so that they can be taken care of in turn. After all, they are benefitting from the protection and having their lives be cared for by the Dragonlings above them."

"Hmm... Don’t the Dragonlings in the lower hierarchy ever think about becoming independent or even climbing to the top or something? Surely some have ambitions of grandeur right?"

She giggled, "Fufufu~ Our society does not work like that. Everyone is aware of their purpose and their responsibilities in life so they don’t step out of line. Are there outliers within our society? Of course there are, but those are few and far between. We have learned to let those outliers do what they want because it won’t take long for them to realise that their destined role is still their most preferred position in life. We have been operating this way for several millennia and nothing has changed so far. Which should be proof enough that this is the best way for us to do things."

Huh... I guess the Dragonlings are just fundamentally different from humans... Which should not be surprising I guess?

I mean... I should already know that every race is different considering the fact that I have a few of them on my crew right this istance... Each of them had different ideas and beliefs as compared to normal humans.

Vieretha then narrowed her eyes at me, "Surely Lady Tera is not one of those people that try to convince us that whatever we are doing is immoral and we should change our way of life to suit some kind of arbitrary standard, right?"

I raised my eyebrow, "Do you get conversations like that often?"

"Hmm... No, but they certainly exist."

"Well... I have yet to meet anyone like that, so... I’m definitely not one of them and if they show up in front of me, I would disagree with their way of thinking as well."

The black Dragonling broke into a smile, "Fufufu~ I knew it~ There’s no way I would choose someone who was completely incompatible with me~"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Fufufu~ Nothing for you to worry about, Lady Tera~ You really are an interesting one~"

That came out of nowhere but... Ok?

I decided to bring the conversation back on topic, "So anyway... You mentioned people in your society having been born with destined purposes right? What is your purpose then?"

"Fufufu~ That question is up to each individual to figure out themselves, Lady Tera. But there’s a general rule that everyone follows according to their role in society. For example, I know my role is to stand above all those who are below me and to lead them as their superior. Thus, I work hard to make sure I can remain in this position and have all the right to guide those that look up to me as their better."

I tilted my head at her, "So what about me? Are you here because you believe that I am someone beneath you as well?"

She reacted to my question in an unexpected way as she slammed the table and leaned forward out of her seat in a panic, the sound causing both my girls and her guards to take a step forward thinking something had happened only to stop when they realised it was just Vieretha responding to me.

"Not at all, Lady Tera! Please do not misunderstand! This hierarchy only exists for our people! Not outsiders! I would never ever think that you are beneath me, Lady Tera!"

I quickly waved my hand at her placatingly, "I was just joking, no need to take that seriously..."

She let out a sigh of relief and sat back down in her seat.

I quickly changed the topic to stop the atmosphere from becoming awkward, "Anyway... Now I’m curious about something... You said this only applied to your own people but... Are there any instances of your people breeding with Dragonlings of different scale colour? What happens to the offspring in such cases? And what about Dragonlings and other aliens like us? Do the children from these pairings end up being affected too?"

Her smile returned on her face, "Fufufu~ I have to say, Lady Tera... For you to think about such things that most people would not even consider... You certainly really are interesting~"

Er... I mean... I think other people also think about it but they probably don’t ask it out loud?

Vieretha gestured to herself, "You might like to know that I was actually a child of two different Dragonlings. My mother was a black Dragonling while my father was a white Dragonling. My status was determined by my own scales and not my parents’, which I assume answered your question about a mixed blood Dragonling?"

I nodded. So basically whatever colour the child is born as between the pairing, that’s what will determine their role in their society.

She continued, "As for a pairing between a Dragonling and someone outside of our species... I’m afraid I do not know of any examples right now. I know that there are couples that have been formed that involve outsiders, but they are rare and they are not very well connected so news about their lives and their involvement in our society is limited. What I do know is that we have no problems with alien pairings of course."

She said the last part with a wiggle of her eyebrows as though she was suggesting something.

Well... I was saved from needing to answer her by the chef coming over to serve the food she had prepared for us.

Right... Let’s just try out the food she prepared first.