WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 522: The Hunting Dog Who Caught the Wolf

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Orcma had once conquered Oberli. However, it failed to address several problems in time and eventually fell apart. It seemed Orcma would simply disintegrate.

Gruel's presence, however, brought the pig beastkin together. After negotiating with Sapien, Gruel absorbed Orcma's entire organization and used its strength to fight the King of Wolves.

Gruel was a Master and a source of pride for pig beastkin everywhere. Not only Orcma, but even ordinary pig beastkin with no connection to Orcma admired Gruel. Since Gruel was also the only one protecting them from Oberli's officials and other powerful figures, Orcma had no choice but to follow.

Gruel found Urukpaing. Urukpaing had led mercenaries into battle alongside the Beast Faction warriors and was now gasping after the grueling march. Gruel approached without concern for Urukpaing's exhaustion.

"Urukpaing! You fought hard alongside us against the wolves, but I'll need you to work a little longer!"

"Huff, huff. No, Gruel. It was an honor to fight beside you!"

"Your qi arts are the finest I've seen among people I haven't taught myself. I doubt anyone taught you, either. It's reassuring to have an orc like you with us."

"N-No... Sniff. The honor is all mine...!"

Overwhelmed with emotion, Urukpaing sniffled and went off to clear rocks.

People thought Gruel was a violent savage, but strength alone could not earn someone the title of high chieftain of the Beast Faction. Gruel was also skilled at handling people.

Offering praise at times and threats at others, Gruel kept them on a leash while coaxing them along. The pig beastkin worked without rest.

"I can hear voices in here! Everyone, gather over here!"

"One, two, heave!"

Pig beastkin had numbers, and numbers were power in themselves. Countless pig beastkin carried stones, searched for people by scent, cleared debris, and rescued those buried beneath it.

"I'm alive! Thank you for saving..."

"...Come out."

The Oberli guards, who had been trapped in the darkness for hours, felt reluctant gratitude toward the pig beastkin who rescued them. Just as Gruel wanted.

An outside enemy united those within. Resentment might remain, but so would the memories of facing the battlefield together.

"Orcma and the pig beastkin are mixed together well enough now. No one will be able to tell so easily who's Orcma and who's not."

Even while working, Gruel constantly watched the situation and considered the next move. Gruel looked less like a martial artist than a businessman. While checking whether anything else needed doing, Gruel spotted laborers struggling with a huge boulder.

"All right. I should make a show of helping too."

Loosening stiff shoulders, Gruel began clearing the rubble.

Then Gruel noticed a pig beastkin boy who seemed familiar. He was the boy Gruel had encountered at the dump when first arriving in Ende.

They had accepted volunteers of all ages before fighting the wolves, but Gruel had not expected them to bring along a slum boy like him. Gruel approached the boy.

"Kid."

"Yes? Ah, Lord Gruel..."

The boy had been rolling rocks when he noticed Gruel and now did not know what to do. Gruel looked him over. The padded leather armor and spear shaft in his hands made it clear that he had been brought here as a soldier.

"Who brought you to the battlefield?"

This was a boy who had barely managed to survive in the slums. Unless someone had forcibly drafted him, he would never have volunteered. Gruel asked him that, but the boy avoided Gruel's gaze as he answered.

"I-I volunteered."

"I see. Who told you to say that?"

"It's true. I went there myself and said I wanted to fight. Orcma asked us to fight for the pig beastkin."

"Orcma?"

"Yes. Orcma gave me... meat."

The boy's face reddened at the thought that he had been swayed by something as trivial as meat. Gruel waited silently. With difficulty, the boy continued.

"I'd never eaten anything like it before... And they said my family could taste it too if things went well. So I came along."

"You turned down my offer, yet you risked your life for meat? And you believed Orcma's promise?"

"...Yes."

If the boy had courage, he would have accepted Gruel's offer. If he had been wise, he would not have joined this battle.

But the boy had neither courage nor wisdom. He had been tempted by Orcma's promise of meat and volunteered without thinking.

Still, how could Gruel blame or mock him? A pig beastkin, no, a slum boy of that age could not help being foolish and impulsive.

Not everyone could be as strong as Gruel. They could not all observe the world calmly, with a broad perspective.

Yet the boy had not needed many reasons to pick up a weapon and rise.

"You'll get what you want. You have my word."

Gruel gave the boy's shoulder a firm pat and stood. Gruel's resolve had always been hard as stone, but meeting the boy made it even firmer.

Sapien approached then, carrying an unpleasant matter.

"Gruel. I have something to say."

"Say it."

"It's about Orcma. It seems you want to give them credit for their service and make their crimes disappear."

"So?"

Gruel did not deny it. The response meant, You're exactly right, so what are you going to do about it? Sapien understood the meaning and spoke plainly.

"It cannot be done. They severely violated not only Ende's rules, but the laws of the duchy as well. We cannot let it pass as if nothing happened just because they performed their duty."

"What about me?"

"You are an outsider, not a citizen of Ende. We cannot apply the same rules to you. You also have the merit of defeating the King of Wolves."

"Then exile Orcma. I'll take them in."

Sapien shook his head at the suggestion of lumping merit and wrongdoing together.

"Everyone knows that would be a trick. If you want to settle this peacefully, choose a few members of Orcma's leadership."

"To kill?"

"I'll try to make sure it doesn't come to that."

"You intend to hand them over to the duchy and say you captured the leaders of the rebels."

"..."

Sapien's promise to try meant that even an official of Ende could not intervene. In other words, Sapien meant to hand them over to the duchy. Gruel gave a short laugh.

"Tell them you tried to catch them. The duchy can't be so pathetic that it demands something beyond your abilities."

"Everyone knows we cooperated with you. Words won't resolve this."

Politics was a battle of justifications. Gruel understood that. Still, Gruel intended to bear the burden of the pig beastkin.

Gruel loosened up and rose.

"Then I'll show them through action. Let's fight. I'll beat you badly enough to make the point, but not badly enough to kill you. The duchy should understand that much."

Fighting spirit burst from Gruel's entire body. Realizing Gruel was serious, Sapien stepped back.

"You intend to defy the duchy? Will you throw away all the credit you earned fighting the wolves?"

"It wasn't thrown away. We proved something."

"What?"

Gruel muttered to the speechless Sapien, recalling the past.

"We proved that we can move forward."

Gruel was originally from Ende. Like the other orcs, Gruel had grown up digging through the dump.

The difference was that Gruel had struggled desperately to escape that station in life.

In the southeastern Enger Plain, in the former lands of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand, treasures from a fallen nation lay buried. Adventurers seeking those treasures passed through Ende to explore the ruins of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand. The area was full of harsh terrain, dangerous beasts, and the wicked remnants left behind by a dead nation. But it was also a land of opportunity, filled with precious medicines and treasure.

Gruel decided to turn being a pig beastkin into an advantage. Gruel contacted the pig beastkin of the Beast Faction, descendants of the old orcs who wandered the plains, and earned their trust. Ende, which bordered civilization, was a place that filled them with both curiosity and envy. Gruel told them about Ende and introduced contacts, acting as an intermediary.

Gruel then helped adventurers by using the Beast Faction as guides. Adventurers who arrived in Ende and searched for guides through word of mouth could enjoy far safer expeditions under the direction of local wandering tribes. Gruel and the tribe prospered greatly under Gruel's leadership. They were often attacked because they had changed so much from what they originally were, but eventually every other candidate for chieftain either died or fled, and Gruel became chieftain.

Gruel learned qi arts from adventurers and consumed precious medicines found in the ruins of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand. After overcoming countless dangers and greedily making everything Gruel's own, Gruel eventually became a Master.

Then the wolves rose to power on the Enger Plain, cutting off trade and forcing Gruel to flee.

"The pride of pig beastkin. It's a funny thing to call me, but I thought I was something to be proud of too. So I used to be unfairly disappointed in my kin for failing to seize opportunities as I did. But after coming here, I decided to think differently."

"How?"

"I'll become their opportunity."

Gruel would not do things as foolishly as Orcma had. If so, Gruel could do it in Orcma's place.

As Gruel declared that with confidence, Sapien answered with a dark expression.

"Gruel. Have you ever failed before?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

"I thought so. But remember this. Fate won't always smile on you."

Sapien might have been less capable than Gruel. That was why Sapien learned resignation far sooner. Sadly, Sapien was far better than Gruel at knowing his own limits.

"Because absurdity can come for you at any time."

"One of the Five Tiger Generals? Who?"

Trust supported a sponsoring merchant guild. A guild manager did not lie. They said deceiving others was the foundation of business, but those who faithfully followed that principle all burned brightly for a moment before disappearing. Only the seven merchant guilds, steadfast as the Big Dipper in the sky, had held their places.

"Marquis Lapaeno, the Black Tiger General, known as the Duet Sword. He is leading the Black Tiger Corps and a court-sponsored mercenary corps. The exact numbers and strength are confidential, so I cannot disclose them under the contract."

"Lapaeno...? The rapier user? Why?"

"I cannot disclose military objectives under the contract."

Manager Moore answered briefly. Yet not being able to reveal it meant Moore knew. The regressor could make a guess at least.

"It must be because of the King of Wolves. The duchy probably wasn't sure Ende could handle it properly. If they called in a court-sponsored mercenary corps, it must have been urgent."

‘They didn't even look at Ende when the rebellion happened last time. Since it's before the rebellion, I guess they have some room to spare. Though we dealt with the King of Wolves ourselves.’

If the King of Wolves won, the duchy would likely be threatened as well. In that case, it made more sense to dispatch an army and defeat the King of Wolves before Ende completely fell. It was a very reasonable, normal assumption.

Manager Moore said nothing.

The world did not seem to be so reasonable or normal.

"The Purple Merchant Guild guarantees your identity. Still, I must inform you in advance that fulfillment of the contract may be delayed somewhat, depending on the judgment of one of the Five Tiger Generals."

"All right. But did you come all this way just to say that?"

Without answering, Manager Moore turned the bracelet around Moore's wrist. At that moment, wind blew from somewhere, and the cape unfurled like a sail, carrying Moore away. Manager Moore skimmed over the ground like a swallow.

"A wind sail. That's an expensive accessory."

"Moore's a manager of the Purple Merchant Guild. There must be far more expensive things than that. More importantly, Marquis Lapaeno..."

"Do you know him?"

"He's a Master, so I know a little. Lapaeno the Duet Sword. He's famous for winning the Colosseum's Hundred-Bout Contest, earning the title Master of Duels, and mastering the twenty-four forms of the Vulcan Combat Manual."

He must be impressive. He was both a Master and one of the Five Tiger Generals of the duchy. Everyone knew that much.

"What about his personality and character?"

The regressor rested her chin on her hand, thought for a long time, then answered.

"Uh... Arrogant? But that applies to other Masters too."

"Ah. So he's especially arrogant even among arrogant Masters."

"Is that what it means? Still, he's a general. His personality shouldn't cause any problems... right?"

The regressor was not sure even as she said it, likely because she had seen many people ruin things because of their personalities.

Including herself, of course.

"Hmm. That sounds suspicious."

"It does... doesn't it?"

The regressor was beastlike in a good way. She could be foolish, but it meant she judged situations by instinct before reason.

Manager Moore coming in person for no apparent reason, and Marquis Lapaeno marching on Ende at such an awkward time. The regressor felt an odd sense of unease.

And her instincts were right.

According to the information I obtained by reading Manager Moore's thoughts, Marquis Lapaeno had not set out to help Ende...

The era when wars were fought through numbers had passed. A single Master could easily face a hundred weaker opponents. That did not mean it was wise to throw a Master into an encirclement of a hundred people. Reconnaissance, maneuvering, supplies, encirclement. Standard military doctrine was to attach fast, capable units that could support the central fighting force.

Marquis Lapaeno's troops faithfully followed that doctrine.

The cavalry, all trained in qi arts, could ride for three days and nights without tiring. The court mage unit could manage supplies and maintenance perfectly with only a small number of people. Add one mage and one Master, and it was already a strategic-level force.

The formation might have been a little loose because the unit had been assembled quickly, but its strength remained unchanged. Marquis Lapaeno's force reached Ende as quickly as it had been formed.

They were somewhat late to the fight against the wolves, but that was a minor issue.

"Hmm. So this is Ende?"

A sturdy-looking middle-aged man with an impressive mustache entered Ende. Hundreds of armed soldiers arriving should have caused an uproar in the city, but many citizens had left to prepare for the battle against the wolves, so there was almost no reaction.

Marquis Lapaeno stroked the tips of his curled mustache and gave his impression.

"It's as filthy as the rumors say, but not as noisy. Hahaha. Still, I should find at least one person in this cesspit who can understand me."

Fortunately, word of Marquis Lapaeno's arrival reached Oberli. The officials who had barely reclaimed power remained there.

Duke Erectus, an official of Ende, came out to greet Marquis Lapaeno. Accompanied by a small retinue, Duke Erectus met the marquis at the city's main gate.

"It is an honor to meet Marquis Lapaeno, one of the Five Tiger Generals and the shield that protects the duchy. I, Erectus, an official of Ende, welcome you on behalf of all Ende's citizens."

"Ahem. Hmm."

After considering his words for a moment, Marquis Lapaeno nudged his adjutant and asked.

"Who is that? I'm not familiar with the local power structure."

Helping a general understand local powers was part of an adjutant's duty, especially to prevent accidental insults. The adjutant, who had studied Ende beforehand, answered Marquis Lapaeno.

"Duke Erectus."

"A duke? In a city this small?"

"Strictly speaking, the title differs somewhat from that of an ordinary duke. After Saint Enger left behind three descendants and ascended, the Empire made the Enger Plain a margravate in Saint Enger's honor. When the Enger Plain was ceded to the duchy over two hundred years later, some of it became territory of the Lilac Duchy, but Ende remained a margravate. Therefore..."

"Hmm. Enough. So he's a duke in name only? This is why I hate borderlands. Every dog and cow carries a duke's title."

The adjutant had studied the facts, not to have Marquis Lapaeno say them aloud. And to use the phrase every dog and cow in Ende, of all places. The adjutant warned him in a quieter voice.

"Saint Enger planted a flag in this land. Please watch your words."

"Ah. Hmm."

Both of them were heard perfectly by Duke Erectus.

They could have spoken through sound transmission, yet they deliberately used their voices. It was a declaration that they had no intention of being courteous. It was rudeness close to a declaration of war, but who could stop him?

Marquis Lapaeno paid little attention to his own discourtesy.

"I heard the news on the way here. So. You defeated the King of Wolves?"

"...According to the reports, yes."

"Hmm. Losing to a mere pack of beasts would hardly live up to the name 'lords of all creation', would it? Ah, this city has beast-ears living in it, doesn't it? You did well for beast-ears! I should praise you!"

"It was a result achieved by everyone together."

"Ah, that's right! Praising beast-ears, what a slip of the tongue! The credit belongs to the masters who handled the beast-ears well! Hahaha!"

He laughed as though it were an amusing joke, then waved a hand.

"Never mind that. That's not important. If the wolves are gone, let's move on to the next matter."

"And what would that next matter be?"

The marquis smiled as though he had finally become interested.

"Where is Gruel?"

Footnotes:

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