497 – Ende’S Spring – 5
The boar beastmen’s riot shook the entire city. From the outskirts of Ende to the obelisk, the suddenly blazing flames brought a hot wind to the city.
Sapien, who was guiding Grull, received a call from an obelisk. After asking Grull for his understanding and approaching him, Sapien whispered to him what was going on in Ende.
‘The orcs are rioting and threatening the obelisk?’
Although some of the context was omitted and the background was missing, it was a clear fact. Sapien hurriedly checked Grull’s expression. Grull was joking with his subordinates, who were grumbling in dissatisfaction.
Grull was also a boar beastman, but it was unlikely that he had planned anything since he had arrived in the city today. However, wasn’t the timing too coincidental? Even without this, bringing the beastmen into the city was a considerable risk for Ende, and now this commotion was happening.
Sapien sent a message to Grull, making sure that he couldn’t hear it.
[Take the 2nd unit and leave first. I’ll hold him here.]
“Wh, what? Why are you guys whispering among yourselves when you’re supposed to be taking care of your guest? Do you think we’ll just let you leave us behind?”
As Grull grumbled irritably, Sapien gestured for his subordinates to go first and said.
“There’s been a minor incident. Please wait here for a moment.”
“Wait? You told me to do some work before the promised time, and now you’re telling me to wait when you have all these people with you? You civilized people are even more shameless.”
“I apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Apologize.”
Grull distorted his face in mockery and exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders.
“Alright. Since the great one of the obelisk has spoken, I’ll listen. Everyone, it’s break time! Relax your bodies for a bit!”
The beastmen warriors laughed boisterously and stretched their bodies. It was a threatening gesture that openly expressed their dissatisfaction. The cause was on their side, so they couldn’t say anything, but the obelisks felt a tingling tension.
Grull approached Sapien calmly.
“While we’re killing time, shall I tell you something interesting?”
“What is it?”
“We beastmen, you see. We have four ears. Human ears, and animal ears.”
Grull tapped the fur-covered area around his ears. Human ears were hidden under the slightly bulging fur.
“Rather than saying that we were born properly, it means that we’re a mixed existence. Anyway, having many ears isn’t necessarily a good thing. Animal ears have much better performance, but human ears, which confuse the senses, only get in the way.”
“I know that.”
“However, if you use qi, your senses will also improve. Humans who handle qi as well as obelisks gain senses that are just as good as beastmen, or even better. You can even control it at will. It’s much more useful than beastmen, who have to endure unpleasant noises.”
Words that everyone knows can’t be useful. Everything Grull was saying now was a setup. Sapien asked, feeling a faint sense of unease.
“What are you trying to say?”
Grull chuckled and replied.
“Then, what about a beastman who has developed his senses by using qi?”
“…What?”
“My fellow boar beastmen have rioted, you say? So you’re trying to keep me and my subordinates here? Oh my, what a disaster! There’s no end to the trouble in a big city like Ende!”
Grull, who had spoken openly, held his stomach and laughed loudly. Sapien was shocked when he was discovered without any room for excuses.
“It was transmitted through sound transmission…!”
When the qi technique reaches its peak, it can even hold onto the air. Sound transmission is a technique that uses qi to hold onto the wind and directly transmit sound.
Since it physically blocks out sound, there is no way to hear someone else’s sound transmission, regardless of the level of their technique. Usually.
“I didn’t hear the sound. I heard ‘you’ who heard the sound. Next time you use sound transmission, be careful of your ears! If it’s information that you want to hide so badly!”However, Sapien underestimated his opponent. To be able to reach the truth through Ki-gong means that he has his own Ri. Grull had reached the realm of amplifying the advantages of the Suin through Ki-gong.
Sapien replied with a frustrated heart.
“…If you had listened, you would have known. There is a great commotion in Ende right now. Until that matter is settled, we cannot let outsiders into Oberlier.”
He had no choice but to reveal the truth, but it was a little too late. Grull’s expression changed as he replied.
“Hey, wait… Are you kidding me?”
Clang, clang, clang. The moment Grull finished speaking, the Beastmen and the Obelisk drew their weapons and aimed them at each other. A sense of tension hung between the two groups, as if a battle could break out at any moment.
In the midst of that sharp tension, Grull let out a long breath. Despite the fact that the day was not that cold, a white breath flowed roughly from his mouth.
“Our brethren have risen up in discontent. But instead of reasoning with them or trying to persuade them, you are trying to hide the matter. You are trying to deceive us and put us off.”
“It was an unforeseen event. Rather, Oberlier has no choice but to be more wary of you.”
“Ah, of course I understand that. You must be scared. You must be afraid. We are strong, and if we fight, we will hurt each other.”
Even if he had told the truth from the beginning, it would have been difficult to just let it go. Now that it has been discovered that he was trying to hide it, the Beastmen have no reason to be patient any longer.
“However! If fighting is fear, then underestimating is death! If you back down even once, you will continue to covet our blood and flesh!”
Compromise and concession are only possible between humans. In the wilderness, where they covet each other’s blood and flesh, there are only two options: fight or die.
If you lose your momentum, you will die. Even if I die, I must show my will to inflict wounds on my body in order to escape being prey. When a member of your clan dies, you must take revenge in order to instill fear in your enemy.
Even if honor seems useless, there is a reason why people try to hold on to it even when they are being abused.
“Are we afraid!”
“Are we afraid!”
“Are we afraid of fighting!”
“Are we afraid of fighting!”
The Beastmen warriors gradually began to echo Grull’s words, snorting. The wind that had started with the Orcma’s demonstration had reached the Beastmen as well.
“We will go to Oberlier.”
Ende and the Beastmen had promised to join forces in Oberlier to overthrow the Wolf King. They had no idea what the city was like or what the situation was.
“If you are going to stop us, don’t do it with words, do it with force!”
From Noble mtl dot com
However, Oberlier had to protect the city. Whether it was the angry pig Suin or the Beastmen. If they targeted Oberlier, they were the enemy.
Regardless of whether the odds were high or low. Regardless of whether the situation was good or bad.
Sapien took up his weapon.
******
The angry pig Suin were approaching the walls of Oberlier. They had been banging on the door with pickets, but instead of losing their strength when they saw that the door would not open, they seemed to burn even more fiercely. Now, instead of pickets, they were banging on the city gate with logs that they had acquired from somewhere.
“Oh my god. What is this mess?”
Kito, a rabbit Suin and trap designer, blinked his big eyes in terror.
Although the five major livestock Suin make up the majority, there are many other minority Suin tribes in Ende. Typical examples are cats and rabbits. Among them, the rabbit Suin, known for their timidity, have always been in a weak position.
“Do something about it!”
“The Obelisk is supposed to do the fighting! I’m the technical department!
“Yes! Use your great skills to stop those guys! You can do it!”
However, Kito lives in Oberlier because his abilities are recognized. The reason is none other than the fact that he has awakened his own magic.
The public servant yelled at him, his neck red with anger.
“Those guys are just weaklings who haven’t even mastered Ki-gong! Turn the things they have into traps!”
“Oh, I’ve never changed the things I’m holding before…”
“It’s an emergency! Hurry up!”A large ladder fell next to her, who was at a loss. Thud, the heavy wooden ladder was hung on the wall. Startled, Quito grabbed her head and crouched down. From below, cheers were heard and the pig beastmen began to climb the ladder.
Fortunately, the dispatched Obelisk broke the ladder, but there were only about fifteen Obelisks and their numbers were gradually increasing. In between, there were beastmen who were not pigs.
“Do you think they’ll leave you alone because you’re a beastman? You’re the same vested right of Obely as pigs and livestock beastmen! Hurry up!”
“Ugh….”
If this continues, it will really fall. The frightened Quito quickly looked around and spread her unique magic.
Unique magic, Miss Goldberg.
Quito’s unique magic is collapse.
To be exact, it is the ability to keep something that will soon collapse in that state for a while.
A pile of poorly stacked, a tightly pulled rope, a ball that seems to fall at any moment. Quito’s unique magic maintains and delays all these instabilities that should collapse soon. Everything doesn’t fall and floats in Quito’s unique magic.
What if Quito releases her unique magic when it’s so excited?
The pulled rope grabs the person, the barely holding pit collapses, the fallen pillar hits the person, and the seemingly intact ladder breaks.
That’s what a trap is. A situation where danger is hidden so that it cannot be noticed, but collapses in an instant when someone touches it. Quito forcibly promotes the situation with her unique magic.
Since the situation was so complicated and exciting, the instability of the unique magic piled up in an instant. Quito’s whiskers, who instinctively felt the crisis, stood up. Quito looked back at the official who had given the order and asked.
“A, are you serious?”
“What are you doing! Hurry up!”
“I, are you serious? Are you really doing this? Should I do it? Should I do it?”
“Do it while you talk like that!”
“Someone will get hurt…”
“Who cares if they get hurt! Hurry up! Or I’ll hurt you!”
The official gets angry. Quito closed her eyes tightly and folded her long ears with her hands. It was to avoid hearing the scream that would soon be heard, but the rabbit’s long ears could not be blocked with her hands.
Quito muttered, hoping that the scream would not be heard as much as possible.
“Ooh. I’m sorry…”
“No. You don’t have to.”
“Huh?”
I approached Quito and flicked my finger.
There was a pot that was boiling water. It was something that the official had ordered to be prepared to sprinkle on the pig beastmen. It was boiling on a pile of firewood that had been hastily woven together, but for some reason it lost its balance and fell.
The boiling water spills and the pot rolls around. People scatter to avoid the hot pot. So did a small beastman who was carrying a net. The net, which should have been wrapped around the earthen bag attached to the gate, rolled around the pot.
“Huh?”
Unfortunately, Quito was at the end.
In the meantime, the net wraps around Quito’s ankle. As the pot rolls down, Quito’s body follows without resistance. She stumbles and falls, and she ends up hanging upside down under the wall. Quito, who was wrapped in a net with her skirt and clothes turned upside down, cried out.
“H, help me!”
“What should I do if you get caught!”
The trap does not choose a victim. Quito, who was in the center, often became a victim of her own ability. It was a side effect of Quito’s unique magic.
Of course, this time I set off one of the traps near Quito early.
It’s a pretty fun unique magic. It’s easy for me to steal and use, and the results are fun. I want to have one of those unique magics too.
Perhaps because it was so chaotic, no one seemed to care even though a few more people, including me, were added. Everyone’s attention was drawn to Quito because she was so embarrassed. Even the Obelisk.It can’t be helped. There’s no way that the pig beastman will come out of the Obelisk, so I can rest assured.
However, the price of being at ease was great.
Someone quickly approached from behind the public official. Before he could react, the shadow wrapped its thick arms around the public official’s neck.
“What? You are…! Ugh!”
“Everybody stop.”
It’s the pig beastman. The pig beastman, who should have been outside the barrier, suddenly approached and wrapped himself around the public official. Everyone was stunned for a moment by the unprecedented situation.
The first fang, the mercenary leader Urkpeng, growled while holding the public official hostage.
“Open the door now. Otherwise, the public official’s life is forfeit.”
A meticulous plan creates more loopholes. The longer you prepare, the more likely it is to leak out.
Most major events usually happen unintentionally. Surprisingly, no plan can be a plan.
The castle gate, which had been blocking the hot wind, opened, and Ende welcomed spring.