Chapter 497: The Spring of Ende - 5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 497: The Spring of Ende - 5
The pig beastkin’s riot shook the entire city. From the outskirts of Ende to Obeli itself, a sudden blaze ignited, sending a hot wind sweeping through the metropolis.
Sapien, who had been guiding Grul, was summoned by one of the Obelisks. After excusing himself, Sapien approached the man and learned through a whisper what trouble had befallen Ende.
‘The Okma are rioting and threatening Obeli?’
Though some context and background were missing, the fact was clear. Sapien glanced nervously at Grul, who was busy trading jokes with his grumbling subordinates.
Grul was also a pig beastkin, but it was unlikely that he, having arrived in the city just today, had orchestrated something. Yet the timing was too coincidental. Inviting the Beast Faction into the inner city was already a considerable risk for Ende; for a commotion like this to break out now…
Sapien used his Qi Art to transmit his voice so Grul couldn't hear.
[Take the second unit and go on ahead. I’ll hold him here.]
“Well, now. You’ve invited guests, so why are you whispering amongst yourselves? You’ll make me think I’m being ostracized.”
As Grul grumbled in annoyance, Sapien gestured for his subordinate to leave before speaking.
“It seems there’s been a minor incident. Please wait here for a moment.”
“Wait? You chided me for taking care of a little business before our appointment, yet now you’re telling all these men to just wait? You civilized folk have less shame than I thought.”
“I ask for your understanding.”
“Understanding.”
Grul’s face twisted into a sneer as he gave an exaggerated shrug.
“Fine. If the great men of Obeli say so, I suppose I must listen. Everyone, break time! Stretch your legs for a bit!”
The warriors of the Beast Faction let out savage laughs and began to flex and swing their bodies about—a threatening gesture that was an open display of their displeasure. Since the cause of the delay was on their side, the Obelisks could say nothing, but they felt a prickling tension in the air.
Grul nonchalantly approached Sapien.
“While we’re killing time, shall I tell you something interesting?”
“What is it?”
“We beastkin have four ears. Human ears, and animal ears.”
Grul tapped the furry area on the side of his head. Hidden beneath the slightly bulging fur was a human ear.
“It means we weren’t so much born properly as we were mixed with something. In any case, having more ears isn’t always a good thing. The animal ears are far superior in function, so the human ears only serve to muddle the senses.”
“I am aware of this.”
“However, when one cultivates Qi Art, one’s senses are enhanced. A human who wields exceptional Qi Art, like an Obelisk, can gain senses as sharp as a beastkin’s, or even sharper. What’s more, you can control it at will. It’s far more useful than being a beastkin, who must sensitively perceive even the most unpleasant noises.”
Common knowledge couldn’t be the point of this conversation. Everything Grul was saying was a prelude. Feeling a faint sense of unease, Sapien asked.
“What are you trying to say?”
Grul grinned and replied.
“In that case, what about a beastkin who has developed their senses using Qi Art?”
“…What?”
“You said my kin, the pig beastkin, have started a riot, didn’t you? And that’s why you’re trying to keep me and my men here? My, what a disaster! To think a city as large as Ende is plagued by such endless trouble!”
Having shouted it for all to hear, Grul clutched his stomach and roared with laughter. Exposed with no room for excuses, Sapien was aghast.
“But I used Sound Transmission…!”
When one’s Geon Qi Art reached a certain level, one could even grasp the air itself. Sound Transmission was a technique that used Qi to bind the wind and deliver sound directly.
Because it physically blocked the sound, there was no way for another person to hear a transmission, regardless of their level of skill. Or so it was in general.
“I didn’t hear the sound. I heard you hearing the sound. Next time you use a transmission, be careful of what goes on inside your ears! Especially if it’s information you’re so desperate to hide!”
But Sapien had grossly underestimated his opponent. To have reached the Axiom through Qi Art meant one possessed their own unique principles. Grul had reached a state where he could use his Qi to amplify the natural advantages of a beastkin.
Dismayed, Sapien replied.
“…If you heard, then you must understand. Ende is in the midst of a major disturbance. Until we have it under control, we cannot allow outsiders into Obeli.”
He could no longer hide it, so he laid out the facts plainly, but it was too late. Grul’s expression hardened as he retorted.
“Hey, you… Are you kidding me?”
Clang, clang, clang. The moment Grul finished speaking, the Beast Faction and the Obelisks drew their weapons and aimed them at each other. A tension so thick it felt as if a battle could erupt at any second hung between the two groups.
Amidst that sharp atmosphere, Grul let out a long breath. The day wasn’t particularly cold, but a white mist billowed violently from his mouth.
“Our kin have risen up, filled with discontent. And yet, rather than placating or persuading them, your first instinct is to hide it. Even if it means deceiving and isolating us.”
“This was an unforeseen event. If anything, Obeli has no choice but to be even more wary of you now.”
“Oh, I’m not saying I don’t understand. You must be scared. Frightened. We are powerful, and if we fight, we will both be wounded.”
It would have been a difficult situation to smooth over even if he had told the truth from the start. Now that his attempt to hide it had been exposed, the Beast Faction had no reason to hold back.
“But! If fighting is fear, then to be looked down upon is death! If we bow our heads even once, they will forever and ever covet our flesh and blood!”
Compromise and concession were things only possible between humans. In the wild, where creatures coveted each other’s flesh and blood, there were only two choices: fight or die.
To falter in spirit was to die. Only by showing the will to scar your enemy, even in death, could you escape becoming prey. Only by avenging your fallen kin could you instill in your enemy a sense of how troublesome you were.
Honor might seem useless, but there was a reason they clung to it, even to the point of recklessness.
“Are you afraid of us!”
“Are you afraid of us!”
“Are you scared to fight!”
“Are you scared to fight!”
The warriors of the Beast Faction began to snort, echoing Grul’s words. The wind that had begun with the Okma’s protest had now reached the Beast Faction.
“We are going to Obeli.”
The promise between Ende and the Beast Faction was to join forces in Obeli and defeat the Wolf King. The state of the city was none of their concern.
“If you’re going to stop us, do it with force, not words!”
But Obeli had to protect the city. Whether it was from enraged pig beastkin or the Beast Faction, if they aimed for Obeli, they were the enemy.
It didn't matter if the odds were high or low, or if the situation was good or bad.
Sapien gripped his weapon.
The enraged pig beastkin were approaching Obeli’s ramparts. They had been striking the gate repeatedly with their picket signs, but the sealed entrance seemed to fuel their fire rather than drain their energy. Now, they were battering the gate not with signs, but with a log they had procured from somewhere.
“A-ahhh. What is all this chaos?”
Kito, a rabbit beastkin and trap designer, blinked her large eyes in terror.
While the five livestock beastkin races made up the majority, Ende was home to many other minority beastkin as well, cats and rabbits being prime examples. Among them, the notoriously timid rabbit beastkin had always been in a position of weakness.
“Do something!”
“V-violence is the Obelisks’ job… I-I’m just in the tech division…”
“Exactly! Use that brilliant technology of yours to stop them! You can do it!”
But Kito had been recognized for her abilities and was a resident of Obeli. The reason was none other than the awakening of her Unique Magic.
The official, veins bulging in his neck, jabbed a finger at the mob.
“Those things are just rabble who haven’t even learned Qi Art! Turn the things they’re holding into traps!”
“B-but I’ve never changed something someone is holding before…”
“This is an emergency! Hurry!”
As she stood there, unsure of what to do, a large ladder fell into place beside her. Thud. The heavy wooden ladder was propped against the rampart. Kito, startled, clutched her head and sank to the ground. Cheers erupted from below as pig beastkin began to climb.
Fortunately, the dispatched Obelisks managed to break the ladder, but there were only five or six of them, and the mob’s numbers were growing. Here and there, beastkin other than pigs could be seen.
“You think they’ll spare you just because you’re a beastkin? You’re not a pig, nor are you one of the livestock beastkin, which makes you part of Obeli’s establishment just like us! Hurry!”
“U-uhhh…”
At this rate, they would really be overrun. Terrified, Kito quickly scanned her surroundings and unleashed her Unique Magic.
Unique Magic, Miss Goldberg.
Kito’s Unique Magic was Collapse.
To be precise, it was the ability to temporarily maintain an object that was on the verge of collapse.
A precariously stacked pile, a taut rope, a ball teetering on the edge. She maintained and suspended all this instability that was about to collapse. Within Kito’s Unique Magic, everything was held in a suspended, unstable state.
And when things were at their most unstable, what would happen if Kito released her magic?
A pulled rope snags a person, a barely-covered pit gives way, a toppling pillar strikes someone, a seemingly sturdy ladder breaks.
That was the nature of a trap. A dangerous situation, hidden from view, that collapses in an instant when someone triggers it. Kito’s Unique Magic forcibly engineered such situations.
Because the scene was so complex and unstable, the instability of her Unique Magic built up in an instant. Kito’s whiskers twitched as she instinctively sensed the danger. She turned to the official who had given the order and asked.
“A-are you sure?”
“What are you doing? Hurry up!”
“A-are you really, really sure? I’m going to do it, okay? I’m doing it? I’m doing it now?”
“Just do it in the time you’re spending talking!”
“But what if someone gets huuuurt…”
“Who cares if those things get hurt! Do it! Or I’ll make sure you get hurt!”
The official snapped. Kito squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her long ears. It was an attempt to block out the screams that were sure to follow, but a rabbit’s long ears couldn’t be fully covered by mere hands.
Hoping as hard as she could not to hear the screams, Kito muttered.
“Uuuu. I’m sorry…”
“No. I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“Eh?”
Approaching Kito, I snapped my fingers.
There was a cauldron of boiling water, prepared on the official’s orders to be poured on the pig beastkin. It had been boiling atop a hastily assembled pile of firewood, but for some reason, it lost its balance and toppled over.
Boiling water spilled everywhere as the cauldron went rolling. People scattered to avoid the searing hot metal. A cow beastkin carrying a net was no exception. The net, which was supposed to have been wrapped around the earthen sacks reinforcing the gate, got tangled around the cauldron and was dragged along with it.
“Eeeh?”
Unfortunately, Kito was at the end of its path.
In the blink of an eye, the net wrapped tightly around Kito’s ankle. As the cauldron tumbled down, Kito’s body was pulled along without resistance. She stumbled, fell, and ended up hanging upside down from the rampart. Her skirt and clothes all flipped over, entangled in the net, Kito dangled precariously, crying out.
“S-save meeee!”
“How did you get caught in it yourself?!”
Traps did not distinguish between friend and foe. Being at the center of it all, Kito often became a victim of her own ability. It was a side effect of her Unique Magic.
Of course, this time, I had triggered a trap near her a little early.
What an interesting Unique Magic. Easy for me to steal and use, and the results are amusing. I’d like to have a Unique Magic like that myself.
Perhaps because it was so chaotic, no one seemed to notice that a few more people, including myself, had joined the fray. Kito was in such an embarrassing predicament that everyone’s attention was fixed on her. Even the Obelisks.
It couldn’t be helped. They surely didn’t expect a pig beastkin to emerge from inside Obeli, so they had let their guard down.
But the price of carelessness was steep.
Someone rushed up behind the official. Before she could react, a thick arm wrapped around her neck.
“What? You’re…! Gack!”
“Everyone, freeze.”
It was a pig beastkin. A pig beastkin, who should have been outside the ramparts, had somehow gotten close and now had the official in a chokehold. In the face of this unprecedented event, everyone froze for a moment.
The First Fang, Mercenary Captain Urukfang, held the official hostage and snarled.
“Open the gate now. Or the official dies.”
Elaborate plans create more openings. The longer the preparation, the greater the chance of leaks.
Most major events happen unintentionally. Surprisingly, having no plan can be a plan in itself.
The gate that had blocked the hot wind opened, and Ende greeted the spring.