Ende is a free city of beastkin. And as befitting a free city, its crime rate is quite high. People cry out that there is no freedom to commit crimes, but strictly speaking, that is wrong. Everyone has the freedom to commit crimes. What matters is whether you can catch and punish them for it.
Ende is a city where different beastkin gather to live. Clashes were frequent, and the way to resolve them was primitive. The guard would only intervene after blood was spilled, and if it was too much for them, the Obelisk would suppress it backed by the Public Authority. After going through several rough patches, Ende maintained its own balance by forming clans united by race or interest groups.
However, crime always exists. It's just covered up by resolving things amicably, handling it within the clans, or through the mediation of the guard. Where people live, problems are bound to arise.
A city being healthy doesn't mean problems don't occur; it means the problems that do occur don't worsen. Just like our bodies.
"Thief! A thieeeeeeef!"
So, the fact that Ende has become a mess means it's unhealthy.
"Catch that guy! Guard!"
"Heheh. What guard? The Obelisk won't even come, will they?"
Horse beastkin are faster than other beastkin. There might be some who use that advantage as a competitive edge to get a job, work hard, and earn money with honest intentions. But thinking simply, stealing someone else's money and running away is the easiest way to make money.
Especially now that public order has broken down.
"Slow Piggy is planted over there, right? With no guard dogs or Obelisk, there's no way they can catch us! Freedom!"
The cow beastkin who had his bag snatched by the pickpocket chased after him but eventually fell. The horse beastkin, who was running away while glancing back, stopped right there as if annoyed as soon as he saw him fall.
"You bastard! Did you do this knowing I'm from the Single Horn Clan?! Do you think you can survive in Ende after doing this?!"
Even with the name of the Single Horn Clan on the line, the horse beastkin just let out a mocking snort.
"No. You won't survive."
"What?"
"Haven't you heard the news yet? The Wolf King is attacking this place! If you stay in Ende, you'll just become wolf food! The answer is to make a big score and leave Ende! Hahaha!"
The horse beastkin mocked the other slowpokes and disappeared somewhere into the alley. Leaving behind the news of the Wolf King.
With the Obelisk and Obeli guard dogs gone, the guard lost its authority. The lofty Public Authority that prevented overflowing crime is now gone. No, now that a revolution has occurred, the humans living in Ende rather pull up their hoods to hide the fact that they have no ears or tails.
When the wall between Obeli and Ende collapsed, many things leaked out. Wealth, power, secrets, and so on. With countless powers leaking out, Obeli could not exert any control over Ende.
"Urkpang! The beastkin are looting the shopping district in groups!"
"Why tell me? Stop them!"
"We... can't! There are too many of them!"
"Damn it! Looting at a time like this? What kind of beastkin are they?"
"Centered around the horse beastkin..."
"As I thought! We need to break all their ankles!"
"...A large number of orcs are participating. When the horse beastkin commit looting, they gather around and steal one or two things. More orcs are apprehended than horse beastkin, relatively speaking."
"Agh!"
The orc mercenaries moved with the guard, but there was no way they would be in sync. From the start, the guard had no intention or reason to follow the orders of the less-organized orcs. The two groups deployed to similar places and left similar places empty, and when the situation escaped their hands, they just gave up entirely.
Amidst the chaos caused by the security vacuum, the citizens of Ende had no choice but to find their own countermeasures.
"Unable to endure the theft, the Sheep and Cow Clans have organized private soldiers and started putting up fences!"
Ende was torn apart clan by clan. The clans fenced off their areas and blocked passage, seeking the safety of their clan members.
From the clans' perspective, it might be right. But from the city's perspective, it was like a proliferation of autonomous territories, something that should never be tolerated. Foina, who heard the news, was horrified.
"The clans organized private soldiers? That's illegal! Ende strictly restricts clans other than Obeli from having private soldiers!"
"...W-what about us?"
"We are legitimate members of Obeli!"
Panicking, Ukma very belatedly reinstated the Obelisk guard dogs, but thinking about it, it was the worst move at the worst timing. The guard dogs were pro-human, truly colluding with the Public Authority, and they tried to oust Ukma, who had taken away their jobs, even if only for a short while.
News of wolves biting people outside came in intermittently, but it was buried by the noise inside Ende and fizzled out. Along with the constant talk of being in preparation, the fight with the wolves was right before their eyes.
"Awooooo..."
I can hear noisy sounds from outside. Mostly human shouts, screams, and groans. Since I'm inside the fence, I can't see well, but it seemed all sorts of noises were entering Aji's ears and nose.
I waved my hand toward Aji, who was howling sadly at the sky.
"Aji. Stop looking at the sky and crying so pathetically, come in and sleep."
"Woof. Again. Humans are fighting again."
"It happens all the time, so what?"
"Woof! But, wolves coming! But humans fight each other!"
"So you're saying it's unsightly that humans are wasting energy fighting each other at a rare opportunity to fight the wolves?"
I can't read a dog's mind, so I tried to interpret it as carefully as possible, but Aji shook his head and barked.
"Similar, but different!"
"Similar but different? What's different?"
"Wolves bad. Kill sheep, attack humans. Really bad!"
"Yeah. They are bad."
"Wolves, bad! Humans, good! But humans, fight!"
"Ah."
Telepathy doesn't work, but the language Aji uses is a very honest dog language. Interpreting it as it is, I roughly got the gist.
"You're saying why do good humans fight each other when the bad wolves are right in front of them, right?"
"Woof!"
Aji nodded enthusiastically. What else can I say. It's such an old question. I laid my body back down and answered.
"Good grief. It's a very obvious problem."
"Woof?"
"It means that humans close by are worse to each other than wolves far away."
When I answered as if it were obvious, Aji tilted his head and asked.
"Woof? Humans, good! Dogs, good!"
"I need to hear the human perspective too. It's true that humans like dogs and dogs like humans, but humans hate humans."
"Woof woof? Why?"
"Because humans have the most of what humans need. It's convenient to take it. The one who wants to take is always on the prowl, and the one being taken from hates wondering who is targeting them. So they have no choice but to fight."
"Awoo..."
In principle, Aji might be right. But reality is cold.
Dropping his ears and tail, Aji barked into the empty air again. The mournful howl resonated low and wide. I picked my ear and said to Aji.
"Don't bark too much. Other dogs will cry hearing your howl."
I'm not just saying that. Actually, right now, outside the door, a dog beastkin was being beaten like a dog on the dog days of summer.
"Wait! We only came to see the King!"
"We are dog beastkin! You have no right to interfere with our audience!"
"Do you intend to take Piggy's side even after seeing the state of the city?"
The Obeli guard dogs who came to see Aji argued vehemently, but it didn't work on the Returner at all. The Returner lifted Cheonaeng and muttered.
"I told you to get lost."
Bam. The Returner knocked the dog beastkin down in an instant. After returning from throwing the sprawled dog beastkin far away, the Returner grabbed the back of his neck in annoyance.
"The word is out about this place too. Uninvited guests will come and be annoying every day. I'm thinking we should slowly move."
"You chased them away? You could at least listen to what they have to say?"
"It's a matter of people fighting. Aji can't be just a shield. That's what they're aiming for by coming here."
Answering absentmindedly, the Returner seemed to neither expect much nor be disappointed anymore.
The Returner's emotions had now surpassed the level of annoyance. Things have to be only moderately twisted to cause annoyance. At this level, it's not twisted; it was a problem from the start. Naturally, the Returner's way of dealing with Ende's city situation also changed.
'Beastkin discrimination was originally a problem. Before the regression, destruction came early because the beastkin sided with evil. But seeing this mess, I don't even know how to solve beastkin discrimination anymore.'
If it was a problem that could be solved by getting rid of one or two people, he would have done it. But the Returner knew too. That right now, it was a problem that could never be solved by an individual meddling with a few.
At this point, it was a disaster on par with the Wolf King. Instead of throwing a tantrum, the Returner was troubled.
"Sigh. It's completely ruined."
"So what? It's not that ruined."
He's making such a fuss. It's not even that desperate of a situation. I said nonchalantly to the somewhat depressed Returner.
"If push comes to shove, just Mr. Shei, Aji, Grull, and I can deploy and kill the Wolf King. No matter how incompetent Ende is, they can at least play the role of wolf bait, right?"
The era of scraping together an army and clashing head-on is over. Now that Qigong and sorcery are widespread, the easiest way to move military power is to send an outstanding Qigong master or mage with proper support.
Ende's military forces are beastkin who haven't even learned much Qigong. At best, they're Grull's support. Then just use them as such and be done with it.
"I can't just let them all die. The wolves are strong and numerous. The damage will be massive."
"Then let them run away."
"It would have been better to evacuate them from the start, but it's already too late now. On the wide and flat Enge Plains, only the horse beastkin can outrun the wolves. Whether they like it or not, they have no choice but to fight back now."
"It went as you wanted. Whether they live or die, if they have to fight whether they like it or not, they'll do enough as bait or support."
When I said it casually, the Returner glared at me and snapped.
"Is that something to say?"
"Then is it something I shouldn't say? You wanted it too, Mr. Shei."
If the goal was to save people, you would have evacuated them first. But you didn't, did you?
No matter how strong one is, one cannot fight a large army without the city's support. No, they can fight, but it's strategically disadvantageous, so they just don't do it. Notifying them as late as possible to prevent deserters or runaways before a battle is a method chosen by both pre-revolution Obeli and the Returner.
"It's because you helped the pig beastkin that it turned out like this!"
"Mr. Shei liked it at first too."
"I didn't know it would come to this!"
"Same here."
Did anyone know? I am not a prophet. I don't know what the future holds. It's the same even now.
"Everyone did what they wanted. This is just the result. The orcs will have to choose whether to put down the power they hold, or shed blood to fight to keep it."
"You know. They can't do either. They'll hem and haw and get bitten to death by wolves."
"But the fact that they can choose is important. Without this chaos, there wouldn't have been any room for choice at all."
The Returner kept saying it was ruined, ruined, but actually, looking into it, there's not much difference. For all the fuss, it wasn't that ruined. I shrugged my shoulders and said.
"Obeli would have decided to fight to maintain its power, and the beastkin of Ende would have known nothing and been dragged out aimlessly the day before the battle. The slow and delicious pig beastkin would have died the most in the process. Now, their deaths will be chalked up as unavoidable sacrifices to protect the city, and the pyramid will be further solidified with blood."
In reality, it would be the Returner, Aji, and Grull who defeat the Wolf King. As they say, the bear performs the tricks, but someone else pockets the money.
And the bear performing the tricks is worrying if the people are okay.
"It would have been better if humans were in Obeli."
"Better how? You saw it just now. The guard dogs came looking for Aji. Who do you think is behind them, the underlings of the Public Authority?"
Whether the Wolf King invades or not, humans are also moving behind the scenes to reclaim their power.
It's all the same. It can't be helped. We're the same humans, after all.
My answer must have been unsatisfactory, as the Returner's expression gradually soured. Narrowing his eyes, the Returner assumed a heavy demeanor and called my name.
"Hughes."
"Yes? That is my name, but why my name all of a sudden?"
When my name is called like that, I unconsciously tense up and straighten my posture. Why is he calling my name so suddenly, it's scary.