A city requires countless resources to maintain its scale. Things to eat, to wear, to burn, to wash with, and so on. Thus, cities usually settle in places rich in resources, but a perfect terrain possessing all of these is rare.
Therefore, cities build facilities to produce resources and supplement what is lacking.
There were originally no flocks of sheep in the Enger Plains. Only the strong species among the grazing beasts, such as tough water buffalo, fast zebras, and sturdy antelopes, survived in the Enger Plains. There was only one reason flocks of sheep could come to this land and graze: humans raised them.
The shepherd boy yawned widely as he watched the moving flock of sheep.
"I'm bored..."
Shepherding is primarily handled by dog beastmen and sheep beastmen. Dog beastmen are skilled at shepherding even without being taught, and sheep beastmen instinctively communicate with sheep. While experience can be accumulated, communicating with sheep is impossible without being born with it, so Ende, which had many capable beastmen, chose the peak over the baseline.
The boy, a sheep beastman tasked with shepherding, clicked his tongue as he looked at the plains full of sheep and grass.
"It's better than having problems... but it's just too boring."
Shepherding wasn't originally such a boring profession. This place was the edge of Ende. Lions or wild dogs that strayed from their packs appeared frequently, and it was everyday life to wake up in the morning and find a couple of sheep missing. It was normal to check and fix traps and repair fences every single day.
But lately, strangely enough, nothing had happened. Suspiciously so.
The shepherd boy looked at his flock again.
The sky of the Enger Plains, where the dry season had arrived, was wide and clear. The battle between brown and green draped over the plains was gradually seeing the green frontline pushed back, thanks to the flock's feasting. Between the sound of the wind brushing the grass, the full-bellied bleating of the flock mixed in.
A peaceful and idyllic life. Someone with many worries in the world might find joy in this peace. But for a boy with big dreams, it was simply too boring.
"I wish something interesting would happen..."
Did they say speak of the tiger and it appears? The shepherd dog, which had been yawning beside him, suddenly stood up. Feeling his fur stand on end, the shepherd boy also clasped his hands and stared into the distance.
Far away, at a distance that could be called the edge of the plains. Something with gray fur was approaching this way.
—A wolf.
Lush fur. A swift body. The two eyes containing savagery seemed to be burning with ghost fire. Even though it was still quite far away, the sheep beastman who felt fear moved instinctively.
"Mongmong! Take care of the sheep!"
"Woof!"
Leaving his post to the shepherd dog, the shepherd boy immediately ran down the slope. Running until his fur streamed behind him, the shepherd boy arrived at the guard post and loudly rang the alarm bell as he shouted.
"A wolf! A wolf has appeared!"
The guard post was thrown into an uproar.
The guards, having grabbed their weapons, rushed over hurriedly. Armed in thick leather armor, the guards let out ragged breaths as they headed to the pasture guided by the shepherd boy.
What they saw upon arriving were the sheep leisurely grazing and the shepherd dog bearing its teeth with its tail raised. The guards looked around and asked.
"Where's the wolf?"
"Over there, just a moment ago! From down in the plains, it was coming this way!"
The shepherd boy pointed into the distance, but the wolves that had clearly approached quite closely had disappeared in the meantime. The guards, made irritable by the sudden dispatch, shouted in annoyance.
"There's nothing there!"
"I clearly saw it!"
"Did you see it wrong? Or did you see an illusion?"
"No! Do you think I can't even distinguish that? It was definitely a wolf!"
"A wolf shows its face for a moment and then disappears? Does that make sense?"
He pleaded sincerely, but the guards gave him suspicious looks. A wolf that has started a hunt is persistent. It gnaws at the nerves and torments the prey until it collapses from exhaustion, then bites the neck the moment they let their guard down; it doesn't just disappear right before one's eyes like this.
The shepherd boy, bursting with frustration, spoke to his partner, the shepherd dog.
"It's real! Mongmong. You saw it too, right?"
"Woof! Grr, woof!"
However, the only beast that can speak human words is the King of Beasts. Even at the sight of the dog barking, the guards didn't seem to believe it at all.
"Hmph. Alright, let's leave it at that."
The guards grumbled as they returned to the guard post. Even without saying it, it was obvious they considered the shepherd boy a liar. The shepherd boy grew angry at the guards' attitude.
"A wolf really came, and they act like this?! When the flock disappears, they'll probably blame me!"
"Woof!"
"Yeah. Mongmong. You worked hard. By the way, what on earth was that wolf?"
To approach the flock and then disappear in the brief moment he left his spot. It definitely wasn't acting like a wolf. The Enger Plains are vast. To hide one's body in a plains without a single obstacle, one must retreat quite far away.
To approach closely and then just retreat. Beasts do not show such inefficient movement. It's not like it was a human carrying out a deception operation.
The shepherd boy let his imagination wander alone.
"Maybe it's a wolf chased out of its pack. It approached and then retreated because there were too many sheep."
"Grr!"
"Or maybe, it saw our Mongmong's majestic figure and ran away!"
"Woof!"
The shepherd boy chattered for a long time about the unidentified wolf. The shepherd dog couldn't understand the words, but enthusiastically responded.
Still, there was a good thing about the wolf appearing.
He definitely wasn't bored anymore.
It was a few days later. Yawning as he walked along the fence once, the shepherd boy discovered the looming shadow of a wolf in the distance again. It was still far, but this time it was noticeably closer than before.
Suddenly terrified, the shepherd boy ran down to the guard post in a single breath.
"A wolf! A wolf has appeared!"
This time, an Orc mercenary group arrived along with the guards. Having come with flashy weapons, they snorted and looked around.
He wondered why a pig beastman came instead of an Obelisk, but Ende being short-handed was nothing new. They were probably hired to hunt the wolf this time. The shepherd boy, who was late on the news, brushed it off as usual.
The Orc mercenary group looked around and asked.
"Where is the wolf?"
"Over there, near the large rock past the fence!"
The Orc mercenary group looked at the large rock, but no wolf shadow was visible. The Orc mercenary group scrunched their already wrinkled faces even more and said.
"We can't see anything. Sniff. There's no smell of blood either. Was there even a wolf?"
"There really was one! Right over there, shaking its large tail and glaring at me!"
He beat his chest and shouted the truth, but once again, what returned was not praise for a job well done, but suspicious looks.
"Then see for yourself! There will be huge wolf footprints left right there!"
The shepherd boy, bursting with frustration, ended up crossing the fence himself and said. The Orc mercenary group followed behind the boy as well.
"It was a huge and terrifying guy. It was so big that it was hidden behind this rock! I'm sure there will be footprints the size of a head left!"
The confident boy dragged the Orc mercenary group to the rock. Because the traces would prove his unjust treatment.
However, contrary to the boy's expectations, not a single footprint remained near the rock.
The Orc mercenary group, who had been rummaging through the surroundings, said fiercely.
"There's nothing here."
"Huh? Huh? That's strange. Why isn't there any?"
"You must have been scared and saw an illusion. This is why cowardly sheep shouldn't be shepherds."
The criticism was criticism, but what tormented the shepherd boy was the injustice of it all. He had clearly spoken the truth and was only faithful to his job, but becoming a liar and being condemned by everyone was so unjust that he couldn't bear it.
"It's true! A huge wolf was standing right here, glaring at us!"
"Then why are there no footprints?"
"Well, did the wolf use some Qigong technique to hide its footprints?"
"Nonsense. If it was a wolf that used Qigong, it would have dragged this guy away already."
"In the first place, wolves come in packs, so saying you only saw one is strange from the start."
"Did you see a wolf that dies if you look at it three times?"
"It'll die soon! Haha!"
The boy's only crime was being faithful. He spoke as he saw and conveyed what he experienced, and before he knew it, he had become a liar.
Even the guards who had deployed with them pointed fingers at the shepherd boy.
"Don't listen to him too much. That guy rang the alarm last time saying a wolf came and it was a bust. He's just trying to make fun of the Piggies since they're new."
The Orc mercenary group asked back fiercely.
"Piggies?"
"Ah, sorry. Was it... Orcs?"
"Watch your mouth. Our Orcma has been given the authority to punish at her discretion if she hears racially discriminatory words."
Anyway. Even after searching more, not a single strand of fur was found, let alone wolf footprints. The Orc mercenary group, who spat out curses, scolded the boy.
"If you call us out with a lie again, expect to be severely punished."
"As if it wasn't already hectic with the wolf stories, now the shepherd is causing a ruckus too."
"If he's among the flock, I wouldn't even know he's the shepherd. How can he take care of something with a higher intelligence than himself?"
"It's famous that sheep have bad eyesight. His eyes are dim too, so he just came running in fear."
He had enough discretion not to say, "Aren't you guys dirty Piggies too..." Until the mercenary group left, the shepherd boy kept his mouth shut and suppressed his anger.
"Hmph. There was a wolf. I only told the truth..."
It was the first time in his life he had felt such unbearable injustice and frustration. I did nothing wrong, but it felt like the whole world was united in blaming me. No matter how much I shouted, they only mocked and ridiculed me.
The boy, who considered himself strong, viewed crying as a disgrace. The shepherd boy desperately held back his tears and buried his face in the shepherd dog's neck, sniffling.
"I won't ring the alarm even if I die. Hmph, just wait. They'll regret not believing me after the whole flock is dead."
The beast couldn't speak human words, but it could comfort human emotions.
The shepherd dog silently nuzzled the owner who wiped his tears with its fur.
It was the next day.
The wolf appeared again this time. The huge black wolf gazed at the flock from a certain distance, just like before.
It was exactly the same as before, but this time, the shepherd boy's attitude toward the wolf changed. The shepherd boy ignored the wolf and gathered straw.
"Woof! Woof!"
"It's okay, Mongmong. Let it take a few sheep."
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
"Even if I ring the alarm, they won't believe me anyway."
"Woof! Woof! Woof! Whine, woof! Woof..."
"There's no need to try so hard to protect them. They'll only know they were taken when the sheep's blood is splattered everywhere."
As the shepherd boy answered cynically to the shepherd dog's desperate cries.
The dog's barking suddenly stopped.
The shepherd boy turned his head at that ominous silence. The black wolf, who didn't know when it had approached, was staring at the shepherd. Looking at its large body and glossy fur, it was definitely the wolf the shepherd boy had seen.
Hanging limply from the wolf's jaws was the shepherd dog, dead with its neck broken without even being able to put up a proper fight.
The flock of sheep, smelling the blood, scattered in terror and ran away. Even while the prey was running about in all directions, the wolf still only glared at the shepherd boy. Thud. The loyal dog's corpse rolled powerlessly across the ground. Only after seeing his friend's death did the shepherd boy realize his situation.
The wolf wasn't targeting the sheep.
What it was targeting, was the shepherd.
The wolf's hunt toward the city had begun.