Chapter 491: I've Been Through So Much
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 491: I've Been Through So Much
I've really been through a lot. It's exhausting.
My time in Ende has been short, and I've had to cram so much work into these last few days. It's been brutal. And Ende is just so damn big. A whole day can pass just by walking around and reading minds.
Reading minds, assessing the situation, moving on, then reading more minds. It was a grueling task, like trying to sort through the chronicles in a haphazardly organized library.
But, well, there's a certain thrill to be found in that kind of organizational work. Pinpointing the members of Okma from among tens of thousands of people and selectively ruining their day was surprisingly fun. Watching them grow anxious as they hid among the citizens, enjoying the sweet fruits of their labor, gave me a sense of accomplishment.
After finishing another simple job and shaking off my tail, I returned to the mansion. As I crossed the dark yard toward the entrance, I saw two figures lingering there. The Regressor and Azzy were waiting for me in front of the mansion.
What's this? They stayed up waiting for me? How unnecessary... but for some reason, my chest feels a little warm. I never knew having someone wait for you could feel so heartwarming.
"Where have you been wandering off to, coming back so late?"
I take it back. The warmth in my chest is being replaced by a stuffy feeling, as if it's filling with smoke. Hearing the Regressor's sullen tone, I replied indifferently.
"What's the problem? I was just out doing the work you wanted me to do."
"You could at least tell me where you're going and when you'll be back. So I don't have to worry for nothing."
"And did you explain anything before you left? You just said you'd be back late tonight and disappeared."
"But I came back late, just like I said I would!"
"I didn't even have a chance to tell you when I'd be back. You could have at least listened."
Seemingly at a loss for words, the Regressor's expression grew even more sullen.
'I'm strong and I know what to watch out for in this timeline, but you've lost your power, even if you are the King of Humans. What if you get hurt or killed going out alone without Azzy?'
Your thoughts are much kinder than your words, aren't they? You should just think and not speak. Or just be completely honest for once. That would probably solve half our problems.
"Don't just stand there gawking outside the door. Come in."
'I don't know what he's doing, but he seems really busy. He needs to rest.'
You should really swap your thoughts and your words. You have a talent for making kind thoughts sound obnoxious.
When I came in, I saw the Bountiful Table sitting on the dining table. The Regressor usually keeps it in her pocket dimension, but it seemed she'd left it out while waiting for me.
The Regressor placed a hand on the Bountiful Table and asked.
"Did you eat?"
"I just grabbed something while I was working."
"Want to eat now?"
"It's late, so I'll skip it for today."
"Should've said so sooner. I already pressed the button."
Her actions are faster than her questions. I was a bit hungry anyway, so I gratefully accepted. A steaming bowl of red soup appeared, and I quickly finished it, feeling a warmth spread through my body.
The Regressor waited for me to finish, then spoke the moment I put down my spoon.
"You. Are you the magician?"
"Gasp. How did you know?"
"Why are you surprised? You used to go around calling yourself a magician all the time."
"How do you remember that? I thought you would've forgotten by now."
"Why? You're not famous, but I can at least remember that much."
"I was more doubtful of your memory than my fame."
"Hey!"
After we exchanged friendly insults, the Regressor crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.
"I've been hearing the name 'magician' as I go about my business. They say he's causing a huge stir in Ende. It was impossible not to hear about it."
"I'm not exactly causing a stir. Just playfully teasing people."
"Right. From what I hear, public opinion isn't that bad, is it?"
Oh. Word has already reached the Regressor's ears? That's a little surprising.
"What's the public opinion?"
"To ordinary people, you're treated like a phantom prankster. And the Ende security forces and the Obelisks seem to secretly welcome it. They say the magician only targets those who disrupt the peace."
How rewarding. I nodded, feeling a sense of pride. The Regressor watched my reaction and said.
"So. What are you doing under the name of the magician? Are you part of the security force?"
"It's a little different from the security force. They can't act until an incident occurs. And even then, it's hard to distinguish the culprits from the victims."
"But you can?"
"Of course. Eavesdropping, infiltrating, deceiving, acting. Hiding among humans and drawing out their desires. As the King of Humans, I'm quite good at that sort of thing."
I conveniently left out the mind-reading part of my explanation, but having witnessed all sorts of strange abilities, the Regressor accepted my achievements without much suspicion.
"We need to restore order in Ende before we fight the Wolf King. We'll need to focus all of Ende's strength to stand against him."
"What's this? You're actually good at it when you put your mind to it. You should have done this sooner!"
"This kind of treatment is like a stimulant; its effects wear off if you use it for too long. Chaos stems from inequality, and if you don't solve the root cause, it will eventually erupt again. Besides, the other side will get used to it and find other methods."
For now, they're disoriented because this is foreign territory for me and I'm running wild without hiding my actions. But if they happen to discover my identity, I'll instantly go from a symbol of fear to a target that must be eliminated. The appearance of an external enemy will only make Okma band together more tightly to confront me.
'He's quite capable. He's not much help in a direct fight, but he's really useful in these other, more minor areas.'
Say that out loud. Don't just think it and move on. I'm only letting it slide because I can read minds. Anyone else would have abandoned you and run for the hills by now.
"Alright. You don't need anything else, do you?"
"Not really. Oh, but as they say, even a worm will turn. I expect Ende's troublemakers to cause a scene at some point. If we can get past that, there shouldn't be any more trouble."
"Troublemakers? Should I take care of them beforehand?"
"It would be better for Ende to resolve it themselves. Cracking down on internal issues is a shortcut to greater unity."
'Hmph. True, the times Ende failed to stop the Wolf King were when its own power was weakened. That Hughes... he's a convenient type to have as an ally. Gets along with everyone. Understands human nature well. If I had to say, he seems like he'd be good at internal affairs... I'd like to station him at one of our bases.'
Haha. Please. The same goes for you. Though it's less that you're a convenient ally and more that you'd be a terrifying enemy. If I were your enemy, I'd probably die in the next timeline without even knowing why.
"So that's what I've been doing. Now, shall we review your work? What have you been up to?"
"I went to the Beast Faction and delivered Ende's message. That the Wolf King is coming, and we should join forces for the sake of peace on the plains."
"Do we really need their help?"
"They're wild. If we don't extend a hand first, they might side with the werewolves and invade Ende."
Ah, right. You said the werewolves sided with the Wolf King. The Wolf King is hostile to all humans, but he doesn't attack werewolves. He could use them to form an indirect alliance with humans.
It all fits together like a well-oiled machine. The Regressor had her own plans, after all.
"Grul, the Orc Fierce Warrior. If even he, a pig beastkin who has reached the Axiom, lends his strength to Ende, we should be safe."
Oho. An Orc Fierce Warrior. A beastkin powerhouse who has reached the Axiom...
...An orc? A pig beastkin?
A slightly ominous thought crossed my mind, but he's not a citizen of Ende, so it should be fine, right?
*
No group exists without power. If one does, I advise them not to come forward and refute this, but to hurry and hide. Because another powerful group will come along and swallow them whole.
The Tusk, the military arm of Okma, was a mercenary band composed of pig beastkin, and also the largest group cooperating with Okma.
The First Tusk, Urukfang, spoke to his subordinate.
"Two of our contacts with the ranchers outside Ende have disappeared. Rumor has it they were found stuck naked to Ende's outer wall, flailing about. Fifteen cargo carriages were turned into toy cards, and the draft horses were confiscated by Ende's security force after parading around with drunken horse beastkin on their backs."
Individually, these are minor damages. But all these incidents are piling up and weakening our solidarity.
"Most importantly, the magician... he is targeting 'Okma' specifically."
The biggest reason Okma was able to grow in power was its anonymity.
It's not surprising for beastkin to cause trouble. But Okma hid among those very beastkin.
Some operate without even knowing they're part of Okma. Some know, but don't know exactly what they're doing. Some play key roles, but never commit any crimes themselves.
The incidents are too minor to warrant serious attention, and it's impossible to distinguish good from evil. Hidden by anonymity, Okma's power grew day by day.
"The magician. We can't let him be. For the glory of the orcs, no... to at least be treated as equals to the other beastkin. We must secure more influence. We cannot return to the days when orcs were persecuted. The days when you could lop off an orc's head on the street and face no consequences..."
In those days, Okma could never have existed in the first place. If they caused a ruckus, they would have been immediately beheaded, and then tortured. Not them, but their families.
But not anymore. Ende is a city of beastkin, the treatment of pig beastkin has improved, and since the appearance of the furred Saintess, it's impossible to kill beastkin indiscriminately like before. In this situation, accurately identifying members of Okma is as difficult as precisely excising a diseased part of the body. One wrong cut, and the whole body is damaged.
But this being known as the magician is doing just that. I don't know if he's actually using magic, but because of his existence alone, orcs who fear being excised are turning their backs on Okma. At this rate, forget the revival of the orcs; our very solidarity will crumble.
Steeling his resolve, Urukfang looked at his subordinate and asked.
"You've spread the false information, right?"
"Yes, sir. We told our collaborators to gather here, saying we would decide on a code to use against the magician. If the magician is getting his information through some means, he'll want to interfere with this meeting."
"Good. When the magician blindly walks into our trap, the Tusk will sink its fangs into his neck."
"But we don't know who the magician is. Will we be able to find him?"
"There aren't that many humans in Ende. Any human who shows up here can be assumed to be the magician. Report as soon as you spot one."
The Tusk hid themselves in various spots, waiting for the naive human to arrive. The collaborators who had also been deceived showed up, but they were redirected through a secret passage prepared in advance.
'When will you come, magician? If your goal is Okma, you won't miss this chance.'
Like a tusk hidden inside a mouth, they silently but sharply watched for their prey.
After a short while, a hooded figure was seen slowly approaching from among a few passersby. There were no bulging shapes visible under the deeply drawn hood.
"A human!"
Instantly, the Tusk sprang from their hiding places. From rooftops, from behind walls, from beneath the ground, members of the Tusk shot out and surrounded the human. The hooded human, taken aback by the shadows that had suddenly sprung up, looked around in confusion.
"Found you, magician."
Urukfang approached him, growling as he menacingly slammed his gauntlets together.
"Did you think you could hide your identity forever?"
"I don't know who you are, but this is the end of the line."
"You've finally shown your tail."
There was no way any human other than the magician would show up here wearing a hood. It was simple, but logical, reasoning. Confident in the trap they had set, the orcs surrounded the human.
But they should have thought a little harder. That the magician who had stirred up Ende while hiding his identity would never approach so conspicuously.
"I have no tail."
The human declared confidently and threw back his hood. The Tusk members, who had been trying to get a look at the magician's face, gasped when they saw the identity revealed from beneath the hood.
"However, I do have feet to step on a tail. And it seems... you're the ones who've shown yours."
Sapien. An Official of Ende, and the captain of the Obelisk.
Seeing Ende's strongest guardian, the Tusk members looked at each other in bewilderment. Although the Tusk was a famous mercenary band, they weren't heavily armed inside the city... and their opponent was the strongest Official of the Obelisk. Attacking him would be a problem, and in the first place, they couldn't even touch him.
"Th-the magician..."
"An anonymous letter arrived at the Obelisk. It said that an impure group would be gathering at this time, in this place."
The moment the hood hit the ground—CRACK! Sapien shot forward like a bolt of lightning, grabbed one of the orcs by the scruff of his neck, and slammed him into the ground. The beast-like blow knocked the orc unconscious, costing him one of his tusks.
The warriors of Ende fight beasts. And so, they gradually come to resemble beasts. They survive by mimicking the movements of animals that have survived in the wild.
After neutralizing one with an explosive burst of Qi, Sapien snatched the gauntlet and put it on. It was larger than his fist, but it didn't matter. His wild Qi filled it completely.
"Was it the magician who sent the letter? I suppose I should thank him. He's given me a chance to clean up all the trash at once."
"Grr...!"
Cornered, the Tusk made a drastic decision. Urukfang shouted.
"Scatter!"
It was unclear if they could win a fight. The bigger problem was that their opponent was an Official.
There was one promise made to the vassal state for Ende to be recognized as a city of beastkin: to guarantee the safety of its Officials. If a beastkin harms or attempts to harm an Official, Ende can take necessary measures.
The biggest of which is that their home country, the Lilac Vassal State, can intervene.
They created Okma for the revival of the pig beastkin. If they faced external interference before establishing themselves, everything they had worked for would turn to dust. He ordered them to flee, praying that as few orcs as possible would be caught.
But there was one more thing they had overlooked.
"If you thought you could escape... I'm disappointed."
This was the Official who had volunteered to remain in Ende alone, even as large numbers of humans fled from the threat of the wolf. The Obelisk, guardians of the city, were not men that a mere mercenary band could handle.
CRASH. CRASH. CRASH. With every move of the human's fists, another one fell. Orc-shaped imprints were left on the walls and the ground. He rampaged like a beast, kicking off the ground and walls.
Urukfang charged toward Sapien, raising his gauntlet.
CLANG! The collision of orc and human produced a deafening roar. Finger-shaped pieces of metal flew from a shattered gauntlet. It belonged to Urukfang, whose Qi was relatively weaker.
Beastkin have superior physical abilities but lack intellect. That is why their Qi is relatively weak, and why they have never become the mainstream of history.
Somehow managing to grab Sapien with his crumpled gauntlet, Urukfang shouted.
"Go! Scatter!"
"Captain...!"
"Hurry!"
"What a tear-jerking effort."
Sapien immediately flipped him over and threw him to the ground. The orc's back slammed into the pavement. Leaving the gasping orc behind, Sapien moved to catch the rest.
Just then, the orc's strong hand grabbed the hem of Sapien's clothes. Urukfang, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, tightened his grip.
"You're not going anywhere...!"
"Hmph."
The desperate resistance was futile. Sapien's fists and feet mercilessly battered Urukfang. Only after the orc's massive body had been sent flying through the air more than five times did his grip loosen.
But the time he had bought was quite valuable. While he stalled, the other Tusk members had grabbed their fallen comrades and vanished without a trace.
Sapien dusted off his clothes and muttered as he looked down the street where the orcs had disappeared.
"I should have brought some of my men."
He had been confident he wouldn't get hurt, but he hadn't considered having to catch all the fleeing orcs. The magician's letter had arrived so suddenly that it couldn't be helped.
Still, catching even one of them was something. There are many ways to make someone talk. Especially if the opponent is a pig beastkin.
"By the way... the magician. Who could he be?"
He was curious about the identity of the one causing such a stir in the city, but Sapien didn't dwell on it.
If it was helpful to the city, he was more than willing to make use of it.