No Beast Girls on the Western Front

That's how this war is, isn't it? The two sides are pulling back and forth, and in the end, the battle lines haven't moved an inch.

Pine largely shared the same view as everyone else; he remained calm about the overall situation—but he was extremely worried about the golden retriever.

After last night's treatment, the golden retriever girl, who only knows how to make mistakes but doesn't learn anything, has completely decided that Payne is her master and is willing to go through fire and water for this man.

Therefore, she wouldn't listen to any of Payne's advice against strenuous exercise.

Upon receiving the order from Company Commander Belyunk to have the beast girls carry more ammunition, she immediately stepped forward with five other beasts and added five boxes of grenades to her body.

Payne was somewhat exasperated by this: "Am I your instructor or is the company commander your instructor? Whom do you listen to?"

She just chuckled and said, "I just want to help you, but I will only listen to your orders."

Payne narrowed his eyes: "Oh? What if I order you to unload your ammunition right now?"

She was taken aback: "Huh?... But... but someone has to carry these things, right? If... if we hand them over to other beasts, I'm afraid that wouldn't be a good idea?"

"That's not the attitude of following orders."

"Um...well..."

The golden retriever girl was caught in a dilemma, and her ears unconsciously flapped slightly.

After last night's treatment, Payne shaved a lot of the hair on her head and ears, applied medicine, and bandaged her up. As a result, her head is now patchy with bald patches, some blonde and some white, which looks particularly comical.

Just as Payne was waiting to see what she would choose, Xiao En stepped forward and said, "It's okay, I can help her carry two boxes."

Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

interesting.

When Xiao En was treating the golden retriever's injuries yesterday, there was still a clear look of fear on her face.

But when the golden retriever started crying and Payne comforted her, the sheep seemed to have come to some realization and was the first to come forward and hug her.

Payne noticed that, in addition to sadness and pity, Shawn's eyes also held a hint of determination.

This little lamb has grown up so much...

Payne could roughly guess why she had changed, but he didn't intend to ask her directly; instead, he wanted to see for himself what she was doing.

Her initiative to help the new beasts this time can be seen as a preliminary verification of Payne's conjecture.

Although he was pleased with this gesture, he did not intend to agree to it.

Although the golden retriever was injured, there were a total of six beasts in the team, and each beast deserved to be taken care of.

Xiao En's strength was not much greater than that of an adult male, but this time, as if to show her determination, she added an extra box of grenades to her inventory.

As a result, she carried six boxes of grenades, bringing her total load to nearly 100 kilograms.

Six boxes should be her limit; if she adds any more, Payne is worried that something might happen to her.

Therefore, Payne simply pressed the sheep's head and pushed her back, saying, "It's good that you have this idea, but let's forget about it. We're not going on a picnic; we have other things to do when we get there."

"I could have done it..." Xiao En muttered softly as she stepped back.

Payne looked around. Each beast was carrying grenades up to its maximum weight limit. Grace, who was the strongest, was not there, and the brothers of B Company were all carrying loads of supplies. There was really no one (or beast) who could help Golden Hair share the burden.

“Then forget it. I think even if you get other people or beasts to help you, you’ll still feel uncomfortable, right? In that case, just do your best. But if you feel uncomfortable, be sure to tell me,” Payne said finally.

"Hmm!" The golden retriever immediately nodded happily.

This golden dog wanted to express its happiness by hopping and jumping, but due to a sprain and the weight it was carrying, it could only continue to walk with uneven steps.

Such adorable furry friends should be running freely on lush green grass...

Shaking his head with some regret, Payne asked again, "Do you want a proper name?"

"Hmm? Is Master calling me?" The golden retriever came closer again. "My name? I've never thought about that before..."

No one knows what was going on in her dog's head, but in the end she just wagged her tail and said, "I'll do whatever you say."

"From now on we're comrades, so let's not use such formal terms like 'you' (formal)."

"Ah... but the previous training officer..."

"Now I am your instructor."

"Oh... okay, whatever you say."

After correcting the way the golden retriever was called, Payne pondered for a moment and successfully retrieved a name from the nooks and crannies of his past life memories: "Then, from now on you will be called Ella."

Note: The character is based on the golden retriever from the animated series "Paw Patrol".

“‘Ella’? Yay! I have my own name now!” The golden retriever seemed to have no objections and happily accepted the name given to him by Payne, wagging its tail even more enthusiastically.

Although she had maintained a friendly smile on her face from the first moment she saw the dog, it was only now that Payne saw hope in her smile.

Until yesterday, the friendliness in her smile, though genuine, held no hope; instead, it was filled with a pleading, desperate attempt to gain sympathy.

Payne could also see that although Ella had become much more cheerful at an incredible speed, she did not completely trust him.

Perhaps in her subconscious, she herself might become just like those brutal training officers at any time.

Therefore, at least for now, she wants to cherish this warm moment.

Even though I've been hurt by humans so many times, and even though I'm worried that my personality might change drastically in the future, would you still be willing to get along with me as I am now?

Sigh, I really don't know whether to say this child is pitiful or pathetic...

Even more tragically, this situation may very well become a reality in the future.

"We're almost at the front lines, everyone be on high alert!" came the warning from the front of the column.

Chapter 145 CXLIV. Ella's First Lesson

Not long after the message came from the front of the team, the sound of steel rubbing against the air at high speed could be heard in the sky.

What's worse, the sound of the shells cutting through the air quickly turned into a terrifying shriek—this time they were coming for them!

Although the new recruits sprang into action immediately, they were a beat too slow. The large number of veterans nearly pushed them to the ground, and the entire company stumbled and fell toward the grass outside the path.

Payne trusted his experienced beast girls completely, so he immediately threw himself to the ground, taking the time to adjust his helmet.

But when the sound of exploding shells rang out, he suddenly realized that Ella was a complete new recruit!

No, no, no, calm down. She's just new, not stupid.

Just like humans, beast girls are particularly wary of high-frequency sounds like cannonballs whizzing through the air. Given that everyone (both humans and beasts) around her is lying down, she'll probably do the same, right?

These thoughts flashed through Payne's mind like cannonballs. Before the second explosion, he looked up and witnessed a scene that terrified him—

Ella, that silly dog, actually stood there dumbfounded, looking up as if searching for cannonballs from the sky!

Even its tail was wagging!

Does this guy actually want to be friends with artillery shells?!

Fortunately, although the old beastman Lacey was quite disappointing in her learning of literacy and arithmetic, her combat awareness remained very sharp.

Before Payne could even warn her, she lunged forward while carrying five ammunition boxes on her back, knocking Ella to the ground.

Ella, covered in wounds, may have cried out in pain twice, but Payne didn't hear her clearly because in the next second, several more shells fell from the sky, narrowly missing them and landing on the ground just a few meters away. The explosions were deafening, and clods of earth and grass fell from the sky.

Fortunately, the attack came and went quickly. People lay on the ground in fear for another half a minute. When they heard no more shells whistling, they slowly stood up and asked each other if anyone was injured.

It seems the soldiers who were relieved of their posts weren't lying—they said that the French army had been doing their job like clockwork these past few days, firing a few shells at random times each day and that was it, and they didn't seem to have any intention of launching a larger-scale offensive.

While the German troops breathed a slight sigh of relief, they still harbored some dissatisfaction:

If you're just trying to get by, why don't you fire the shells in places where no one is around?

Of course, they themselves knew that this request was indeed a bit excessive, after all, they were still fighting a world war.

After confirming that no one had been lost, the soldiers lined up again and continued marching along the path toward the front line.

Given that the shells had landed not far away, several veterans took the new recruits to see the crater so they could experience the power of the bombs firsthand.

Payne felt that the golden retriever desperately needed this kind of education, so without saying a word, he took off Ella's helmet, carefully avoiding all the wounds, and gave her a sharp rap on the head.

"What were you staring at just now?!"

Ella immediately trembled, covered her head, and lay prostrate on the ground, sobbing and begging for forgiveness: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I... I was wrong... I... I won't do it again..."

"You say 'I won't do it again'?! You know what you did wrong and you say 'I won't do it again'?!"

"sorry Sorry sorry……"

"Sigh...alright, alright, stop apologizing."

Although the dog had been beaten far too many times, Payne felt somewhat sorry for her, but he knew very well that if he didn't train her properly now, bullets and shrapnel wouldn't give her a second chance.

He tried to lift Ella from the ground, but he couldn't because she was carrying five boxes of grenades...

He wanted to ask Grace, who was the strongest, for help, but then realized that Grace was no longer there...

In the end, the other two dogs came to help and managed to lift Ella up.

"sorry Sorry sorry……"

"Ella! Calm down!"

Payne grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard, almost falling over because of the five boxes of ammunition, but at least he stopped her endless cycle of apologies, allowing him to continue:

“You should apologize this time, but it shouldn’t just be an apology. The most important thing you should do is figure out where you went wrong.”

"Unlike those lousy training officers, the battlefield has one advantage: it's all about rewards and punishments. You get a life for using the correct evasive maneuver and lose a life for making the wrong reaction."

"I hit you not because I wanted to, but... pain is the most effective way to teach a beast a lesson."

“I know those damn training officers probably didn’t even tell you to lie down when you hear that sound, but there’s no such thing as ignorance is bliss on the battlefield.”

"So from now on, you must obey my orders, understand?"

Payne could see that Ella was trying to convince herself that "this animal trainer is different from other humans, he won't hurt me," but her arms were still instinctively held in front of her, her face was full of fear, and her eyes were brimming with tears.

"But...but you didn't give me any orders just now..."

Hearing this aggrieved statement, Payne could only sigh, "Indeed, it's partly my fault."

"When Xiao En and Xiao Ma first arrived, at least they knew to lie down to avoid shells."

"I didn't expect that your training officers wouldn't teach you even a little bit about battlefield knowledge."

"But no matter what, as the commander, I definitely bear some responsibility. I should have at least called out to you..."