Chapter 171 – Is Kemonomimi Not Good?

Frosette didn't know much about the beastkins' taboos.
Although she was the March Academy's Academy Know-It-All, her knowledge was largely limited to the March academy.
The beastkins' taboo was obviously beyond the scope of her duties.

Meanwhile, after failing to obtain more information from Frosette, Alice turned to Luna, a staff member of the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department.

“The beastkins' taboos? Are you trying to learn them, Alice?” Luna was a little stunned when Alice asked her this question.
However, she quickly snapped out of her daze and answered, “I know some information on the beastkins' taboos, but I do not have the necessary magic books with me if you wish to learn them.”

The relevant magic book was required to learn a taboo.
It was tough to teach someone a taboo through oral communication alone.
So, even though Luna possessed some beastkin taboos in her repertoire, she wouldn't be able to teach them to Alice.
While she could make a copy of the magic books she read in the past, it would take her half a year just to produce an authentic copy of one magic book.

“I'll figure out a way to learn them afterward if I want to.
Right now, I just want to know the characteristics and side effects of the beastkins' taboos,” Alice said, shaking her head.
If she wanted to learn the beastkins' taboos, she could simply do so using her identity as the Gryffin Kingdom's princess.

Unlike the elves, the beastkins did not isolate themselves from the world.
They also shared a good relationship with the humans, and interracial marriages and cultural exchanges often happened between beastkins and humans.
Hence, even without revealing her identity as the Hero, Alice should be able to gain access to the beastkins' taboos using her identity as the Gryffin Princess.
At the very least, her chances of getting permission from the beastkins would be much higher than the elves.

“If we talk about the many beastkin races individually, they don't really have many taboos.
For example, as far as I know, the bearkins only have one taboo called 'Wild Liberation,' which functions to maximize their physical body's strength.
The inventor of this taboo once shattered a mountain top with a punch because of this taboo.
While under the taboo's effects, his physique was comparable to that of dragons,” Luna said.
If it were only information on the beastkin taboos, she had plenty of information she could share with Alice.
“Of course, if we are talking about beastkins as a whole… The number of taboos the beastkins possess is rather considerable.”

There were many different races among the beastkins, and they lived in tribes scattered across the world.
Every human kingdom within the human realm had autonomous regions within them for beastkins.
There were also some beastkin tribes living on the border between countries, and some were even living in the demon realm.
If they added all of the beastkins' taboos together, the total number would be significant.

Alice nodded after hearing Luna's explanation.
Then, she asked the questions she wanted answers to the most, “Can humans or demons use the beastkins' taboos? If I use the beastkins' taboos, will I suffer any side effects? Have there been any Heroes who had learned the beastkins' taboos in the past?”

“I'm not too sure about these topics,” Luna said, shaking her head.
She might have learned many things while working for the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department, but the beastkins' taboos involved the beastkins' secrets.
The intelligence department wouldn't pry too deeply into these secrets unless absolutely necessary to avoid creating diplomatic disputes.
As a result, Luna's knowledge of beastkin taboos was rather limited.

“Let me answer this question for you.”

Luna might not know the answers to Alice's question, but Kristine, the previous generation's Hero, did.
Since Alice and Luna were the only people in the room right now, Kristine didn't choose to restrict her voice to only Alice when she spoke up from her tablet this time.

Although Alice had already requested for a skilled alchemist from Hatter, and Hatter had also agreed to her request, the Gryffin Kingdom was in the midst of conducting an important research topic.
Thus, Kristine still needed to stay in the Soul Gathering Tablet for the time being.

“Humans and demons can also use the beastkins' taboos.
I'm not sure if you know it, but Grant is an example of a Demon King who has learned beastkin taboos.”

“Oh? Grant has learned beastkin taboos?”

Alice was a little surprised.
This was the first time she was learning about this matter.
After all, when she fought against Grant, the other party used only gravity magic to fight her.
It was also fortunate that Grant's soul couldn't cast any taboos.
Otherwise, Alice couldn't have defeated him with only a few pairs of panties.

“Yes.
There are some beastkin tribes living in the demon realm.
These beastkins are mostly those who revere strength, so Grant managed to learn some beastkin taboos from them,” Kristine explained.
“Before becoming a Demon King, Grant used to be a human as well.
Even after becoming a Demon King, his body's structure remained the same as humans.
The only difference was that he had the Demon King's Power acting as a filtration organ for him.
In other words, if he can use beastkin taboos, so can you.”

“When Grant used the beastkin taboos, did he undergo any changes?” Alice asked curiously.

“He did.
When I fought with Grant, he used a taboo called Wolf's Aura that sharpened his movements and senses to a terrifying degree.
While Wolf's Breath was active, I couldn't land any of my attacks on him.
He could always perceive and dodge my attacks in a strange way.
So, I had no choice but to go on the defensive and endure until the taboo's effect ran out,” Kristine explained.
Then, she finally gave Alice the answer she was looking for, “During the taboo's duration, I saw Grant growing out an extra pair of ears, a tail, and fur that clearly belonged to the wolfkins.
These additional features are probably the taboo's side effects.”

“So there really are side effects.”

Alice sighed when she heard Kristine's explanation.
The beastkins' taboos were indeed special in that they functioned as support spells that maximized certain characteristics of the user.
However, if someone from another race tried to use a specific beastkin race's taboos, it would seem that they would gain certain features of the beastkin race the taboos were designed for.

Fortunately, the side effects weren't completely unacceptable since they would disappear once the taboo's duration ended.
If it meant that she could add a few more support-type taboos to her taboo collection, Alice felt that becoming a kemonomimi for a few minutes wasn't a bad tradeoff.

The Demon King's Power was a trickier opponent than the Demon King.
If Alice wanted to defeat the Demon King's Power, she'd have to be more thorough in her preparations.