Just like all other cities, Ende has a landfill.
And Ende, a city where beastmen gather to live, has a residential district primarily inhabited by pig beastmen.
And the two are one.
Cities made by humans resemble the body of the Creator. Greedily devouring food, gathering the waste left over from digestion, and expelling it outside the body. Before expelling it, the landfill is the place where they rummage through it one last time, just in case there's something to reclaim.
That place was both the main residence and workplace of the pig beastmen.
"Oink. Oink oink."
Snot runs constantly due to the severe stench. Even pig beastmen, who have a stronger resistance than other beastmen, are helpless against the stench that pierces their noses. A sound hardly different from a pig's comes from their stuffy, congested noses.
The pig beastmen rummaged through the garbage while making pig noises.
"Oink?"
While rummaging through the trash like that, one piggy boy found something amidst the stench. The piggy boy, who had been feeling his way through the garbage with his keen sense of smell, soon began digging into one spot in particular. At some point while doing so, the boy's face was dyed with ecstasy.
"Oink! Found it!"
The large sack was full of meat bones. However long they had been boiled, the stark white bones devoid of any trace of blood didn't even show a hint of anything that looked like meat.
But even that was precious food. If you split it in half and sucked on it, sweet juice would come out, and if you scraped off the fascia attached to the ends with a knife, it felt like thinly sliced raw meat. This was a rare windfall in this landfill.
"Oink. Who the hell wrapped this up so tightly? Making it hard to recognize."
To anyone looking, it was pork... but to those desperate for the day, what did the type of meat matter? The piggy boy rejoiced as if he had found a treasure in the middle of the landfill.
Such pig beastmen numbered in the dozens, in the hundreds. Pigs in a cesspit, living their lives rummaging through the city's excrement.
"Are you still living like this?"
Someone watching that approached with a sigh. At the sudden approach, the piggy boy was startled and hid the bones beneath his body.
"W-who..."
When he turned his head, a pig beastman with an enormous physique was standing in front of him.
Countless scars were etched over his muscles that looked ready to burst. Most of them were marks torn by beasts. However, the scars engraved on his body looked more like proof of his strength than traces of defeat.
The being who looked at him with eyes containing both contempt and compassion, two curved swords resembling tusks thrust into his waist... was none other than a pig beastman.
The piggy boy, who belatedly noticed his folded ears, hugged the bones tightly and shouted.
"This is mine! Don't covet it and get lost!"
"Rest assured. I'm not trying to take it. I have no interest."
"Then why!"
"My name is Grul. A wild man living in the Enge Plains."
To pig beastmen, the name Grul is widely known. A powerhouse who has attained enlightenment, and a great man who protects the wild outside of Ende.
For an impostor, the aura he exuded was extraordinary. The piggy boy's eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"Are you really Grul?"
"I'll show you."
Grul raised his hand and thrust it into the garbage pile. And then he powerfully lifted his arm.
Thud, then dozens, hundreds of garbage piles rose simultaneously. Without scattering or falling.
Something only possible with Qigong. It was a feat that required immense strength and the ability to flow Qigong into different pieces of garbage. The possibility of someone with such Qigong daring to impersonate Grul was far lower than the possibility of him actually being Grul.
In fact, he was indeed Grul.
"Why would Grul come to a place like this..."
The boy, facing the glory of the orcs, suddenly felt a sense of alienation. The glory of the orcs approaching him while he was rejoicing as he rummaged through discarded bones in the landfill felt like some grand absurd play. The pile of bones he had joyfully found just a moment ago now felt like a severe disgrace. So much that he wanted to throw it away immediately.
In front of the boy whose face had turned red, Grul knelt on one knee and asked.
"How long will you live like this?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"I mean a life of rummaging through the landfill. Enduring the stench, rummaging through garbage, and treating the food scraps thrown away by others like treasure... such a miserable life."
It was neither criticism nor insult. It was a statement that squarely faced reality. The piggy boy clamped his mouth shut. Because he felt that if he said even one more word, he would become even more miserable.
Grul spoke as if he understood the boy.
"If you're going to live like this, rather come follow me. You are not too late. If you receive my teachings, you too can become the master of your own life."
A powerhouse who has attained enlightenment offers to teach him directly. Missing this opportunity would be something he would regret for the rest of his life. The boy answered the unannounced proposal.
"I don't want to."
It was an abrupt answer. But at the same time, it was sincere. Instead of throwing away the pile of bones, the boy hugged them even tighter. The corners of Grul's eyes twitched.
"Snort. You're saying you'll continue to live like this?"
"What's wrong with living like this? Everyone lives like this! Me, my parents, my friends, all of us!"
The boy spat on the ground. Once he spat it out, it felt as if all the dark emotions he had kept inside came bursting out.
"Then how should we live? Deliverymen? Horses do that. Make clothes? Sheep do that! Should we earn a living by waiting on humans? Dogs do that! Rummaging through garbage is all we can do!"
"There is another way."
"Like you, you want me to risk my life fighting in the harsh wilderness and cultivate Qigong? In a place where I'd get wounded, get hurt, and die if I'm unlucky?"
The boy is young, but he is a pig beastman. He knows how Grul attained enlightenment.
And what happens outside of Ende.
The land of the wild. A place where predators with sharp fangs stalk their prey. The wilderness outside civilization where the hierarchy changes according to strength, and the weak become prey.
Even if this life of rummaging through the landfill was shameful, he had no desire to die out there. Because even if he was rolling in a dung heap, he wanted to live in this world.
"Oink. I don't want to. I want to live."
"So miserably?"
The piggy boy hugged the pile of bones tightly and looked up at Grul with resentful eyes.
"What makes me miserable... is not this place, but you, Grul."
The two stared at each other for a long time. The weakest of piggy boys, and Grul who had attained enlightenment. The first to break the standoff was Grul.
"...I'm sorry."
Grul, who barely squeezed out a single word, turned his body. Behind him as he walked slowly, the sound of someone sniffling could be heard. Whether it was because of the stench, or because of himself, he didn't know. Grul tried hard not to notice.
Passing through the landfill, someone approached him as he walked weakly. It was a cow beastman wearing leather armor and a bone necklace. There are many cow beastmen in Ende too, but that water buffalo beastman with curved horns looked much rougher and fiercer. Even without the bone necklace around his neck.
The water buffalo beastman snorted and asked.
"Chief. I found you. Where have you been?"
"Since I was here after a long time, to my hometown for a bit."
The cow beastman, who fell silent for a moment at the word 'hometown', soon spoke as if nothing was wrong.
"Obelisk is waiting. Because the chief suddenly disappeared, we are in a standoff unable to do anything."
"I understand. Let's go."
"Aren't you sorry?"
"Me? To you? Why?"
He left his seat without a word while visiting Ende. Because of that, the fierce Beast Faction warriors are in an uncomfortable standoff with Obelisk. They are struggling to prevent a clash from breaking out. For a normal commander, it would be a troubling situation.
But Grul was not a normal commander.
"Snort. If you're annoyed, charge at them. At me, or at Obelisk! You have the strength and will for that, don't you!"
"No, that's a bit much."
"Then there's nothing to be sorry about. It's what you couldn't do! I don't feel sorry over things like that."
Grul strode past the cow beastman. The cow beastman, dumbfounded by the shameless answer, let out a hollow laugh and followed behind him.
***
That day was noisier than usual. Even though it was a mansion in a secluded place, there were unusually many people coming and going, and all of them were busy as if chased by something.
The sound of urgent footsteps came right up to the door and quickly faded away. Wondering at the frequent presence of people, I asked.
"There are unusually many people coming and going. Ms. Shea, is there something going on today?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
"You frequently go in and out of Obeli, Ms. Shea. I figured you might know something."
Perhaps because there were many people buzzing around, the highly sensitive returnee answered irritably.
"There is something, but it has nothing to do with them."
"What is that something?"
"It's nothing special. It's just that Grul is coming to visit."
"Grul? The fierce Orc warrior Grul? The one who stays in the plains outside Ende?"
The pig beastman who attained enlightenment, Grul. Even I, who hadn't been in Ende for long, had heard stories about him. They say he's a prodigy who reached enlightenment with Qigong despite being a pig beastman.
It is implicitly a great feat. Qigong is hard for beastmen to learn. Qigong is a human technique developed over thousands of years of history, and beastmen, who have different senses from humans, struggle to acquire it.
For example, let's say you do a training where you lower your posture, maintain your balance, and keep plates placed on your head and knees from falling. A human would have to focus with their whole body muscles tense, but a beastman instinctively uses their tail to balance.
You might think 'can't they just not use it?', but forcibly not using it is a huge penalty in itself. If they do use it, they stray far from Qigong training. Ears and tails are definitely advantages, but at the same time, they are elements that hinder training. Even more so when it comes to Qigong.
It means it wasn't for nothing that Major General Ebon of the Military Nation cut off his own ears and tail. Actually, in the past, many cut off their ears and tails to overcome discrimination and learn Qigong.
"Then isn't this a pretty big deal?"
"That big deal wasn't conveyed to the people of Ende. It's a secret. So it can't be the reason why they are bustling around."
"Looks like it was leaked."
"Who leaked it? Who would come down from Obeli to Ende and leak that information?"
"Didn't you do it, Ms. Shea? You're the best at speaking carelessly."
"I have no one to talk to here except you!"
"That's a bit sad."
Instead of just telling me to go out and work, you should go out and try to make some friends. She only works busily and doesn't do any socializing at all, really.
Anyway, having suddenly become curious, I got up and said.
"Shall we go out and check it out?"
"Let's do that. I'm curious too."
"Grul is coming to visit, but aren't you going, Ms. Shea?"
"No need to go. It's a matter between the city and the Beast Faction. It's not like I'm going to stay in Ende forever, so it'd be weird for me to intervene."
'There will be political talk, which is annoying and also a field I can't do anything about.'
As expected. You've got an ulterior motive.
I put on my coat and got ready to go out. Then, Azi perked up his ears and reacted.
"Woof? A walk?"
"No, you stay and guard the house."
"Arururur!"
"Ahhh! Alright!"
He just won't leave me alone. I took a shabby robe from the coat rack and handed it to Azi.
"Here. Put this on."
"Woof? It's stifling!"
"Ahem. If you don't wear it, you can't go on a walk."
Because I couldn't attract the attention of every dog beastman walking down the street. After putting the robe on the now-docile Azi, I stepped out into the streets with the returnee.
The mansion was definitely in a secluded place. As we headed toward the center of Ende, the uproar grew more heated. People were building walls as if blocked by something, and beyond them, shouts and war cries filled the streets.
All sorts of emotions echo. The wind is blowing fiercely. The wind blowing in people's hearts.
Hmm. So it manifested like this. This is... troublesome.
The returnee, who was shorter than me, hadn't yet fully grasped the situation.
"What? Is there some kind of spectacle?"
"No. That is..."
"I'll fly up and take a look for a sec."
The returnee, who soared up in an instant, was horrified to see the sight before her.
"Ende! Listen to our voices!"
"We are all equal beasts!"
"Stop the discrimination!"
"Pigs are not food!"
There are many beastmen in Ende. But among them, pig beastmen overwhelmingly outnumber the rest. Even if only 10% of their population of over 30,000 gathered, that's 3,000. A number greater than an average army.
If anything, there were more than that, as a number that was by no means small filled the streets and marched.