WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 505: Even Hunters Can Get Fired

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Wolves were powerful. But they were still only a pack of wolves. If a nation committed its full strength to dealing with them in time, it could defeat them without much trouble.

But a nation was a vast collective where tens of millions lived together, and it was difficult to keep watching a pack of beasts when no one knew where they might strike or what they might do. The King of Wolves was clever enough to avoid a fight when there was no reason to take one. Without the King of Dogs, it was difficult to fight the King of Wolves at all.

The military state had lost hundreds of soldiers in a harmful-beast extermination campaign, while the Lesser States could not settle in the mountains for fear of wild beasts. Even the Empire used only a tiny part of the Mediterranean because it feared the Sea Calamity there. Beasts were a genuine nuisance that even nations could not afford to ignore.

That was why the Duchy had created Ende.

A few years after the Sanctum exterminated the wolf packs, a pack believed to include the King of Wolves appeared in the southern Enger Plain. Yet for political, geopolitical, and administrative reasons, the King of Dogs had been abandoned or driven out for generations. After the kingdom fell to rebellion, the King of Dogs vanished without a trace.

In the meantime, the wolf packs steadily grew in number and roamed the southern Enger Plain. They had become threatening enough that even the Duchy began to feel uneasy. So the Lilac Duchy, closest to the wolves, decided to raise a shield.

Beastkin and Ende.

Things they could discard whenever they wished.

"Ende is... a shield?"

"That's right. We are the Duchy's meat shields. But by becoming their shield, we gained freedom."

Mayor Triber looked around the plaza. Countless homes and people stretched out beyond it. Tens of thousands of beastkin living in Ende. Taking in the city built from the ground up, Mayor Triber spoke.

"Everyone in this city enjoys freedom. They earn money, work, receive fair treatment, and form organizations. Those are things that are difficult to do in a human nation. It proves that beastkin are no different from humans."

For a moment, Mayor Triber looked at the beastkin with emotion. Then, with desperation in their voice, the mayor appealed to them.

"Wolves. We only need to overcome the wolves. Then we can cast off this threat and gain complete autonomy. We beastkin... will show the Duchy that we can do it too!"

"So you want us to become meat shields for the wolves."

"Wolves are powerful, but they are not an enemy we cannot overcome. We can fight and win. And by doing so, we beastkin gain the right to make demands of the Duchy and the world!"

Azzy as a sacrifice? No, Ende was the sacrifice. Driving Azzy out of here was like one sacrifice shoving another off the altar and telling her to be eaten first. It was laughable.

Of course, the beastkin who had never realized they were sacrifices would find even that difficult to accept.

"We don't need it! We weren't born to be meat shields!"

"But because of it, we escaped the Duchy's interference and enjoyed freedom!"

"We don't need interference that lets someone rule over us and send us to our deaths! We'll live our own lives! Ende will decide Ende's future!"

"That doesn't mean you can drive out the King of Dogs! It's no different from treason!"

All right, all right. There was no time, so they could stay behind and keep arguing. I had work to do.

I picked up the megaphone I had brought with me and slowly climbed onto the platform. I stood in front of the two, blocking them from view as they made noises that might have been an argument or might have just been a shouting match. After clearing my throat, I raised the megaphone to my mouth and called out.

"I understand your wishes. You do not intend to fight the wolves. It's bewildering to see your attitude change within just a few days, but if this is the decision Ende has reached after careful thought, I will respect it."

Murmurs rose from Orcma's side, as though that was not the reaction they had wanted. They must have expected me to be shocked and demand an explanation. Unfortunately for them, what they had done was exactly what I intended.

"Wolves harm humans, while dogs follow them. Wolves are evil, and dogs are good. Choosing to surrender to evil and cast out good is deeply disappointing... but I can understand it well enough from the perspective of someone leading a city. People praise sacrifice as noble, but when they're the ones asked to sacrifice, it's difficult to accept, isn't it?"

I sighed as though regretful, suppressed a low groan, then smiled brightly again.

"It can't be helped. So we have no choice but to head north and ask the Duchy directly for help."

It was the same rational judgment the orcs had made. If they would not help us, we had to leave. Something unavoidable had happened, so we were simply making the best response.

But now that I knew the relationship between the Duchy and Ende, it was no longer something they could accept. Poina's face turned pale as she asked.

"Wait. You mean, the Lilac Duchy...?"

"Of course. It's the closest Duchy."

"Th-that can't happen!"

'We already drove out the recognized humans. If word spreads that we drove out the King of Dogs to avoid the King of Wolves, the backlash will be on a completely different level...!'

Exactly. It was little different from treason. Thanks to Mayor Triber explaining it beforehand, I had saved myself the trouble. Still holding the megaphone, I turned away as though saddened and spoke.

"It can't be helped. The King of Dogs must fight alongside humans. Protecting humans from wolves is the pact. But since you won't fight, shouldn't we ask the nearest nation for help?"

It couldn't be helped. Just like them, we had no other choice. As I continued to make that point, I drove the final nail into my speech.

"Well, I'm a little worried about you being pressured by the King of Wolves below and the Lilac Duchy above... but I trust that you wise people will make another excellent decision for the city!"

I said I trusted them, but what I meant was that I would tell the Duchy, so they could work it out among themselves. Neither Mayor Triber nor Orcma could accept that.

Poina shouted viciously.

"Stop! We can't let the King of Dogs go!"

The answer I had been waiting for finally came. I stopped walking at my leisure and calmly asked back.

"Pardon? Then what do you want us to do? You say you won't fight, but if you abandon Azzy here, you're just leaving her to die."

"...That is none of your concern. The King of Dogs exists to protect humans."

"Wow! I've heard that one somewhere before!"

Peel away one layer of their hearts, and they all had the same thing inside. They kept trying to dress it up, but humans were humans no matter what they did.

Beastkin did not need to struggle to become human. They did not need to cry out that they wanted equality with humans.

They had been the same from the beginning.

"Everyone. I'll acknowledge it. You are already more than fine humans! You break treaties, turn away from promises, and abandon the King of Dogs. Then, because it seems things will get worse if you let her leave, you've decided to leave her here to die? Perfect! Could there be any humans more perfect than you?"

It was not as if beastkin alone deserved blame. Humans had driven out the King of Dogs, left her to die, and even imprisoned her in the Abyss.

So naturally, the beastkin had chosen the same option. They were all alike.

"Humans are nothing special. They are beasts, just like wolves. They bow before those stronger than themselves and try to devour those weaker. They scheme because they want to live a little fuller and more comfortably. They are no more than an ordinary pack of beasts. Exactly like all of you!"

Look at it the other way around, and the Duchy sending beastkin to Ende and using them as shields was exactly the same as beastkin trying to use Azzy as a shield.

"The Duchy thought the same thing! Ah, damn it. Those Empire bastards think they're strong, so they're telling us to do the same. It feels rotten, so let's use the beastkin instead. It's fine. Beastkin are meant for this, aren't they?"

Speaking in the Duchy's voice, I spread my arms wide and shouted.

"What do you think, beastkin? Now that you're standing in that position, can you see things from the human perspective? Can you understand why humans sent you to the front lines against the wolves? Congratulations! If you understand, then you're humans too!"

"...!"

I sincerely congratulated them. It was congratulations from the bottom of my heart, the kind I could offer because the beastkin had achieved what they had longed for.

It was not really from the bottom of my heart. I already knew their wish was not so noble.

They only wanted to live well. They wanted to eat good food, enjoy power, and be treated well. They attached every kind of reason to it, making themselves look like ideological activists, but they were really just a group of people who wanted to live better than they did now. They were steeped in victim consciousness, but that was their essence.

"...You understand us well, Magician. If you're so understanding, then you'll understand why we cannot let the King of Dogs leave."

"That's right! It's a perfectly understandable decision! Of course I understand!"

But the pie they wanted already belonged to someone else. Unless they baked a new pie, they would eventually have no choice but to take someone else's.

Once things reached this point, only the logic of strength remained.

"That doesn't mean we have any reason to go along with it, does it? Just as you refuse to follow the Duchy's orders!"

Money, power, consideration, respect. They had to win all of it through strength.

It was beastlike, and that was good, wasn't it? I liked this kind of desire. I only hated it when this simple, primal desire pretended to be something lofty.

"Survival is at stake. Now you and we are in the same position. Ende and us. Which side will die? Sorry, but I don't want to die."

I deliberately raised the megaphone to my mouth and shouted cheerfully.

"I'm sorry! All of you, please die instead of me!"

"Get them!"

Urukpaing and the other mercenaries rushed forward. They meant to seize Azzy and me before we could escape, but a massive slash split the space between us at that instant. The regressor slowly entered through the startled orcs, Skywarbler in her hand.

Perhaps hearing what I said had eased her mood a little. Her presence was less sharp than before.

Still, she was as fierce as ever.

"W-we aren't saying we'll kill you! We only need to abandon the King of Dogs!"

"Why? Azzy is better than you. If anyone is going to be abandoned, it should be you."

The regressor raised Skywarbler and answered.

"It isn't because you're beastkin. It's because you're humans worse than dogs. Unlike Azzy, it doesn't seem like it would matter much if you were abandoned."

Wow. She could provoke people that much without even trying? Naturals really were different. I had to read minds and choose my words to provoke someone. I was nothing but an ordinary man.

"Grr...!"

"We have no business in Ende anymore. Go ahead and do as you please. I'll do as I please too."

With a snort, the regressor unleashed Skywarbler's power.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Dragon Spiral.

A vortex wrapped around Azzy and me. Fierce winds shattered the platform and kicked up a sandstorm. A massive whirlwind of soil, dust, splinters, and debris swept through the plaza. The beastkin crouched down and shielded their faces from the wind.

By the time the whirlwind, strong enough to keep their eyes shut, had cleared, we had already vanished from their sight.

Footnotes:

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