508 – When The Rabbit Dies, The Hunting Dog Is Boiled And Eaten
If the King of Dogs is offered as a sacrifice, the wrath of the wolves can be avoided. Just one person. No, just one sacrifice can guarantee the safety of Ende.
Okma had heard this information from Urkpeng. Okma, who had urgently called the elders together, began a secretive meeting that was uncharacteristically secretive.
“If we sacrifice the King of Dogs, we can avoid the wolves…? Is that really true?”
Elder Taemo replied, his wrinkled face creased even more.
“Hmm. They say that the King of Wolves is looking for the King of Dogs. That’s why humans who want to avoid fighting the wolves often drive out the King of Dogs. The last time the dogs and wolves fought… It was around the time your mother was born, so it must have been less than half a century ago.”
“Which country fought the wolves 50 years ago?”
“It was the Holy Empire. The Empire and the Holy Empire do not avoid fighting the wolves. With their strength, they can crush a pack of wolves in an instant. However… hmm. Other countries are not so relaxed. The situation is complicated.”
Elder Taemo is an old man who has celebrated his sixtieth birthday twice. He is considered long-lived even among those who have mastered qi, and considering that he does not even know the character for ‘qi’ in qi gong, it can only be called a miracle.
He is not wealthy, nor does he have the blood of an old chieftain, nor has he mastered qi gong or magic. However, Elder Taemo held the position of elder with his experience, years, and connections. As the epitome of the elder among the elders.
“Since then, the human countries have avoided fighting the wolves. I don’t remember when it was… but I remember hearing a rumor that the Kingdom of Magenta had driven out the King of Dogs. I heard that the Empire’s envoy visited because of that, so it must have been a huge commotion. In those days…”
The old man’s words were like a tidal flat. They may seem murky, but if you filter them well, you can get all sorts of useful things. Poina’s face turned rosy as she listened to the elder’s words.
“…In that case. If we drive out the King of Dogs or let him be killed by the King of Wolves. The wolves will have no reason to attack Ende.”
Poina uttered the method that everyone had thought of but could not bring themselves to say. Some of the orcs looked at Poina in fear. However, Poina did not notice such gazes and continued to speak out her newly conceived idea.
“We can’t send an envoy to the wolves to make a treaty. In that case, we should use the King of Dogs as bait and drop him far away. So that the King of Wolves can hunt the King of Dogs without much interference.”
“W, would that be okay?”
When someone muttered, Poina turned her head abruptly and glared at them.
“What else could be wrong?”
“No, that’s. It’s a bit much to do that to the King of Dogs who came to us for help.”
“It hasn’t been long since spring came to the city. We need time. We’re not used to it now, so we keep making mistakes, but we orcs will definitely be able to do it. We can do what humans have done.”
Poina was still full of faith. The city is creaking now, but if we work hard, everything will be fine. She believed that the orcs could control the city just as well as humans. Better yet.
However, in order to achieve the future she envisioned, something had to be discarded.
“But we can’t shed blood in a fight that isn’t ours.”
“A fight that isn’t ours?”
“Yes. This is a fight between dogs and wolves. We orcs owe nothing to either the dogs or the wolves. We can’t waste our precious lives on a promise that was made arbitrarily by the kings of beasts in the past.”
Poina had never seriously thought about the fight between the dogs and wolves before today. But now, she felt like she could give a hundred reasons why she shouldn’t fight the wolves. Poina looked at the elders of Okma and continued to speak.
“Even the human kingdoms abandon promises so easily. It’s unfair to ask a single city in the borderlands to protect it. Especially a city that has just found true equality.””The Dog King is just a symbolic beast. When comparing the life of a beast to the life of a human, the life of a human should naturally take precedence. And if you’re asking whether it’s one life or tens of thousands of lives, then naturally tens of thousands of lives are more important.”
“And are you the only ones who are ugly? The Dog King is just as shameless. If he truly wanted to help humans, he would fight alone without letting any humans get hurt. Why is he looking for humans to help him? Isn’t he just asking them to die with him?”
“From the very beginning, the Dog King’s intention in bringing us to Ende was impure. He must have thought of using us as meat shields to subdue the Wolf King. The intention itself is unfair. Why should we be the ones to sacrifice?”
With each word he spoke, his logic became clearer. The orcs owed nothing to the dogs and had made no promises to them. Therefore, there was no need for them to get involved in the fight between the dogs and the wolves. Rather, it was a nuisance for them to involve humans in a fight that was their own. Humans had no obligation to fight that fight.
After quickly coming up with dozens of arguments, Poina paused to collect his thoughts.
“It pains me to say this, but if we make a firm decision, we have a lot to gain. By chasing away the Dog King, we can gain a lot. We orcs are now the race that leads the city. We must make a cold-hearted choice.”
Poina’s words were so perfect that they seemed unassailable. No, there was no reason to challenge them, since he was only speaking the truth. Why should the pig-kin, who had been persecuted until now, come forward and fight for the Dog King? Such a struggle was the duty of the humans who reigned supreme at the top of the pyramid or the dog-kin who were directly involved. There was no need for the pig-kin to shed blood for the dogs.
Since it was the logic that everyone wanted to hear, it was easy to accept. Gul’ta nodded and said,
“Good. Then let’s decide to do that and call Mayor Triber.”
It had been almost a week since the orcs had entered Oberlier, but the main administration was still being handled by Mayor Triber. Gul’ta’s suggestion was appropriate, but Poina, who had suddenly thought of something, hurriedly stopped him.
“No. He’s a noble of the vassal state and a dog-kin. He’ll definitely oppose our decision.”
“Oh, I see. Then what should we do?”
After thinking for a moment, Poina smiled coldly and said,
“…First, we need to reveal the identity of the Dog King.”
The wolves were no longer an invisible threat. The wolves appeared from time to time and attacked all over Ende. If they were to be compared to an army, they were just individual scouts, but the sturdy wolves were so fast and threatening that they could be compared to knights on horseback when it came to scouting.
“Wolves! The wolves have appeared!!”
In the vast city of Ende, there was inevitably an outskirts. Despite the evacuation order, there were people who had not been able to escape in time and were scattered everywhere. There were those who had nowhere to put their sheep, those who were about to harvest their crops, and those who could not give up the animals they had raised to the wolves, but the wolves did not care.
“Everyone, hide!”
With someone’s cry, people grabbed their children’s hands and hid inside their houses. After locking the doors and closing the windows tightly, they huddled together in the shelter they had made in the basement and locked themselves in.
After the city that had discovered the wolves fell silent.
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The wolves that had been circling outside jumped over the fence. It was a reinforced fence, but the wolves jumped over it with a height that far exceeded it. With surprisingly light movements, the wolves that had invaded Ende bared their teeth and stepped into the town.
Clang.
That was when it happened. As soon as they stepped over the fence and took a step, steel teeth hidden in the sand sprang up. Sharp, jagged teeth like those of a beast bit into the wolf’s foreleg.
“Bastard!”
“Kiing, Aoooo!”
While the surprised wolves were jumping around, Kito, the trap designer who had been hiding in the bushes, suddenly appeared and let out a faint laugh.
“Hee, heee. What do you think? This is a special modified bear trap that I installed all night long….”
The traps reinforced by Kito’s abilities reacted more strongly even to the slightest triggers. Although the wolves were intelligent, they were unable to avoid the traps that had been perfectly hidden under the dominion of the ancient demon. In an instant, nearly 30% of the wolves were caught in the traps and became unable to move.”Beasts are beasts… If there are traps, I have nothing to fear!”
Kito shouted with bravado as if to convince herself.
However, the wolves did not pay much attention to Kito. The wolves, who had looked at each other once, all began to do the same thing.
Clack, clack.
They stepped hard on their front paws that were caught in the trap. They hooked their claws on the clasp and broke the trap with their teeth. They twisted their heads to open the interlocking notches again. Clack, clack. The released spring shrank and the trap returned to its original state.
They understood the structure of the trap. As if they had experienced it before, they skillfully dismantled the trap.
“Huh?”
No matter how strong a beast is, it must be prepared for a big wound to escape from a bear trap made of steel. However, the wolves that had now invaded Ende dismantled the trap as if they had experienced it before. As if they were humans who had been caught in a trap by accident.
And the leader just chewed on the spring. Broken pieces of metal flowed out with the saliva. The wolves, who had neutralized the trap, swept through the village without any roughness.
“eeek!”
“Help me…”
“Woof! Woof!”
Gray fur spread all over the street. People and dogs who could not hide in time were bitten to death by wolves. The wolves, who were chasing their prey, did not stop there, but broke down the doors of the houses and scratched the floor to find the hidden humans. The basement was a bit of a hassle for the wolves to find, but it was a matter of time. The persistent and cruel wolves moved with the intention of annihilating the village.
“Hmph, hmph! Please save me!”
Kito, who was suddenly chased, ran away from the wolves. Three wolves chased after her. Kito was also fast, but she was no match for the real wolves, so the distance gradually narrowed. Kito, who glanced back, cried when she saw the wolves.
“Toeeeng!”
The characteristics of a rabbit beastman are their pointed ears and quick change of direction. The wolves that were chasing after Kito disappeared in an instant in front of their noses and bit the air several times.
Even though she is a magician who has awakened her unique magic, Kito’s nature is that of a rabbit beastman. The experience of being chased and chased in Ende since she was a child was quite effective even against wolves. Moreover, Kito possessed unique magic.
The rope she dropped while running was knotted by her unique magic, and the trap she threw roughly was set up on its own. On the other hand, even if Kito stepped on the trap and passed by, the trap did not react at all. In her unique magic, only the enemy could trigger the trigger. She used all sorts of methods to buy time, and she stood with her back against the wall and gasped for breath.
“Ugh. Ugh. I shouldn’t have come alone without an escort…!”
Why did Kito, who was a major force in the city, end up like this? Why was she setting traps in the outskirts where wolves might come? Kito, who was calmly retracing the reason, cursed as she recalled the culprit of everything.
“It’s all because of those damn pigs!”
Orcma ordered Kito to set a trap. In fact, Kito accepted it because it was something she originally did.
However, she did not know that she would be told to just take out all the old traps and do it without any escort or strategy. They told her to paint traps in every village without telling her where the battlefield was or when to use them. It was an ignorant idea that only a pig beastman could have.
“But why am I paying the price for ignorance?”
Kito is a rabbit beastman. She can put off the wolves for a while, but she can’t run away forever. Soon, the wolves began to gather around her. Kito, terrified, trembled and shook her unique magic. However, no matter how much she searched, there was no means left to use in this village. Kito closed her eyes tightly, her tears streaming down her face.
“Toeeeng… Is this the end?”
However, what Kito expected did not happen.
Kito slowly opened her eyes as her neck remained intact. In front of her was a strange beastman standing on all fours. With its tail raised stiffly, it exuded an intimidating aura. The king of dogs bared its teeth at the bad wolves.
“Growl, woof!”
Aji moved.Ende is vast. No matter how sensitive Aji’s senses are, he cannot sense the entire sphere of influence of a city.
However, when the wolves invaded, the humans fled to Ende, and Ende’s sphere of influence was naturally compressed. Aji tries to ignore the fights between humans, but he is infinitely threatening to the enemies of humans. Aji, who ran out of the mansion in one breath, took down the wolves attacking the humans one by one. The wolves stopped their attack and began to gradually surround the city.
Aji’s existence, which had been secretly known, came to the surface. All the citizens of Ende realized the existence of the king of dogs who had suddenly appeared and was biting the wolves. The dog beasts cheered for the king’s performance, but the other beasts were not as happy.
It’s partly because the king of dogs is unusually friendly, but above all…
– The wolves are invading because of the king of dogs.
It was because of a rumor that was secretly circulating.