Chapter 493: The Spring of Ende - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 493: The Spring of Ende - 1
“…The magician. Just who in the world is he?”
The old orc let out a heavy sigh. In the past, his bold underlings would have approached him, insisting it was nothing and that they would catch and kill the man at once. But after the recent string of events, the orcs’ confidence had been severely shaken.
The old orc muttered with a bitter expression.
“The only tusk we had has been broken. The matrons who once staunchly supported Okma are now trembling in fear. Our rank-and-file members are deserting, one by one. Not from the magician, but from us, from Okma. Snort. We’re a joke now. No one fears us anymore. When I went out to the streets today, I saw some guy at a butcher shop shouting at the top of his lungs that he was selling pork. Said it was all because of us that he’d had to turn everything into sausage and lock it away in his warehouse.”
“Who was it? I’ll go kill him right now!”
“The problem is, we can’t.”
The old orc answered self-deprecatingly, looking at the young orc who had stepped forward in a rage.
“We laid a hand on Sapien of Obeli. It was a painful mistake, even if we were tricked by the magician. The security forces now see Okma as a dangerous group. They give any pig beastkin a suspicious look, and they’re ready to lock us up the moment we cause any trouble.”
“It’s always been like that!”
“No, it hasn’t. Usually, they paid us no mind. They never even treated us like fellow humans.”
No matter how numerous the pig beastkin were, or how well Okma hid, there were limits. If they had been more powerful than Ende’s public authorities, they would have built their own city.
Okma had merely acted for the interests of the pig beastkin while hiding among the masses. It was a foregone conclusion that their power would shrink the moment the situation escalated and Obeli responded.
“Those bastards from Obeli! They never cared about Ende’s security before, but now that one of their officials was attacked, they’re rounding everyone up!”
“It must be the magician’s doing. Dammit. Who the hell is this guy… Judging by his actions, he seems to know the ins and outs of Ende. He might have been here for a decade.”
“Then why would a guy like that make a move now, of all times? There has to be a reason! A reason for all this!”
In truth, the magician had been in Ende for less than a month and was acting for the simple reason that he didn't want to be nagged. But the orcs, who had no way of knowing such a thing, found another reason.
“There is one thing I can surmise.”
All eyes turned to the old orc. He rose slowly from his seat and spoke.
“Grul of the Beast Faction. You all know of him, I assume?”
A complex silence fell over the Okma leadership.
Not all pig beastkin were comrades. Some lived peacefully within the order of Ende, while others, like Okma, harbored resentment and operated in the shadows. But even that was a story that unfolded within Ende.
The Beast Faction were wild folk who lived in the harsh lands of the Ende Plains.
The Ende Plains were a blessed land, for both humans and beasts. The fertile soil was covered in lush vegetation, and the herbivores that grazed on it grew plump and fat.
This, in turn, attracted beasts that preyed on other beasts. They had to wage an endless war against this harsh nature, against other predators vying for the same territory, and against prey that was anything but an easy meal. Whether they died of old age or weakness, they fought until the very end.
The Beast Faction had survived there.
As beings who had cultivated a civilization of their own, the Beast Faction also used a written language, wore clothes, and built houses. But these things made up less than half of their lives compared to ordinary humans. For most of their time, the Beast Faction struggled to survive.
After the introduction of Qi Arts, that struggle came to include Qi training. The Beast Faction learned and used Qi Arts to live. Their arts, having evolved in a unique direction, gave birth to a miracle.
Grul, the orc who has reached the Axiom. The glory of the pig beastkin.
“It seems he will be joining the upcoming battle against the Wolf King.”
“…I heard he fears the Beast King.”
“It appears word has reached them that we have the Dog King on our side. And the boy who brought the Dog King is said to be a powerhouse on par with a Beast King. That seems to have influenced his decision to some extent. We, his fellow pig beastkin who cause so much trouble, must have been a thorn in his side.”
Confidential information from Obeli, from who knows where, flowed from the old orc’s mouth.
Shei wasn’t one for subtleties, but she hated troublesome things. So when she had visited Obeli, she had made it clear that matters related to the Dog King were to be kept confidential. It would be a pain if all the dog beastkin who recognized Azzy came flocking to her.
Triver, the mayor of Ende, had kept the secret fairly well, but… unfortunately, the secret he tried to hide had trickled down to the lowest depths of Ende.
The orcs who heard the news twitched their broad noses.
“Snort. If Grul has come, the pig beastkin will play a major role in this battle…”
The fact that the glory of the pig beastkin would stand at the forefront of Ende’s forces was undoubtedly good news. However, the pig beastkin couldn’t accept this glory with pure hearts.
Because,
“The problem is that ‘we’ are not those pig beastkin. The fierce warrior Grul doesn’t care about the rights of pig beastkin!”
An individual’s glory is not the glory of the species.
Where there is light, there is shadow. The dragon that grew up in the sewer despised the place of its birth. And the ones who felt the most violent hatred for it were the sewer worms who watched their kin ascend alone.
“He’s arrogant! Spouting nonsense that the despised pig beastkin simply didn’t try hard enough!”
“Reaching the Axiom is something even that promising genius, Sapien, couldn’t do! He talks as if his very existence, a miracle in itself, is something anyone can achieve!”
“If he comes, will he help us? The one who tells us to train instead of whining? He’ll just ignore us, go up to Obeli, and receive the same treatment as the other officials! He won’t even have to cut off his ears and tail. Reaching the Axiom is a qualification in itself!”
They felt inferior to humans, but with Grul, they felt a sense of betrayal on top of that. A violent, painful reaction, like an eel doused in salt, shook the pig beastkin. Only after the seizure-like emotions had swept through them did the old orc speak.
“Still, he is our kin. That is an unchanging fact.”
It was true. The glory of the pig beastkin had indeed brought glory. Since Grul’s appearance, all claims that pig beastkin were ignorant, lowly, or lacking in intellect had vanished. From the officials of Obeli to the strongest unit known as Obelisk, everyone was conscious of him.
A pig beastkin stood at a pinnacle that even Obelisk, who reigned like kings in Ende, had not reached. A peak that could not be attained through learning and effort alone, but only when talent and luck intertwined. They were far too exceptional as Qi practitioners to feel inferior.
“The fact that Obelisk is only arresting our Okma members is also because they’re mindful of him. They probably wanted to lock up the troublemakers before Grul joined Ende. I heard that our First Tusk, Urukfang, and a few other members are doing quite well in Obeli’s prison.”
“Isn’t a prison still a prison, even if it’s Obeli’s?”
“A single cell in that prison is larger than your house. Snort. They wouldn’t give one orc a whole room, but it shows they’re being considerate of Grul.”
Once again, the old orc shared information he had heard from somewhere. A few of the younger orcs who heard him wore complicated expressions.
“Soon, we will fight the Wolf King. It’s a task that requires everyone in Ende to join forces. In particular, the strength of us orcs, the most numerous of all, is indispensable. Ende will ask us for help, ask us to die in their place.”
“…But the fight is necessary for us, too. If the wolf packs roaming the Ende Plains sweep through, we orcs won’t be left unscathed.”
“If we’re going to risk our lives fighting, we have to get everything we can!”
“Grul will do the fighting for us, and he won’t get us anything we want! Fair treatment? Equal opportunity? Grul doesn’t give a damn about things like that!”
“This time, we have to step up and negotiate ourselves. If we don’t seize it with our own hands, Ende will just revert to the past.”
But the foundation they needed to do so had been shattered.
Okma had been gradually expanding its influence. Hiding in anonymity, supported by countless pig beastkin, they were on the verge of rising as a major power. If Okma had been intact, Obeli would have had to negotiate with them, if only for the sake of fighting the Wolf King.
But now, that secret, massive organization was broken. Not by Obeli, not by the Wolf King, but by a single human.
“If it weren’t for the magician, we wouldn’t have to hide like this…”
“Hiding is the problem.”
An orc who had been listening in a corner shot to her feet. With everyone else silent, this was her one and only chance. Tila, a young and idealistic female orc, appealed passionately to the others.
“Let’s go out to the streets! Let’s gather everyone who’s left and march to Obeli!”
“March?”
“Yes, a march. We have to make our intentions known. But doing it by scheming from the shadows is impossible, even if we try for a thousand years. Our voices won’t be heard unless we speak directly. For once, we need to tell not just Obeli, but all of Ende!”
She was the pig beastkin who was always making absurd claims about marches and protests. As always, the other pig beastkin began to scold her.
“Snort! Tila, you fool. A march? Are you just asking the security forces and Obelisk to come and arrest us? Even if a thousand of us gather, we’ll all be suppressed and rolling on the ground within two hours!”
“But if they did that, they would earn the resentment of over ten thousand people. If they silence the voices demanding fair treatment while the Wolf King is invading! Nothing could possibly justify their actions!”
“Do they need justification? We’re talking about the powerful figures of Obeli who hold all the power and authority! They can just crush us with force!”
“Grul will help us!”
This time, his name landed a little differently.
Grul was of the Beast Faction. He had survived the survival of the fittest in the ruthless wilds. That was why he despised the pig beastkin of Ende, who lived off the scraps.
“I think Grul is right. If you don’t act, you get nothing. Of course, it would be best if that was strength gained through bone-grinding effort. But sadly, we haven’t even been given the conditions to make that effort.”
But that didn’t mean Grul was heartless.
If he were truly heartless, he would have sought glory for himself instead of gathering the wild folk of the Ende Plains. He would have become a ruler in Ende instead of the guardian of the Beast Faction.
“We are demanding. Demanding a chance to try. That if we have the chance to eat, learn, and grow, we too can reach a new realm, just like Grul.”
Therefore, he might despise the pig beastkin, but he would not ignore them. With a gaze that was quite political, yet filled with admiration, the young orc sang of her dream.
“Grul did it. I believe Grul is special, but I don’t think he’s the only one. The pig beastkin have potential! Just as spring comes after winter, a spring will come for us orcs who have endured these hard times!”
It was an unrealistic, absurd, and sweet story, like a drug.
But for an Okma battered by the magician, any drug would do.