Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 494: The Spring of Ende (2)

Like any other city, Ende had a garbage dump.

And like any other city populated by beastkin, Ende had a district primarily inhabited by pig beastmen.

And in Ende, the two were one and the same.

Cities built by humans resemble the bodies of their creators—consuming greedily, digesting what they can, and expelling the waste. Before that waste is discarded entirely, it is searched one last time, just in case something valuable remains. That final scavenging ground is the garbage dump.

For pig beastmen, it was their home. Their workplace. Their world.

“Snort... snort snort.”

The stench was overwhelming, mucus dripping from their noses. Even pig beastmen, who had stronger resistance than other beastkin, couldn't escape the foul odor entirely. Their clogged nostrils made them sound no different from the pigs they resembled.

Snorting and sniffing, they dug through the trash.

“Oink?”

One young pig beastman, rummaging through the filth, suddenly paused. His keen nose had caught onto something. Focusing on a single spot, he began to dig with renewed vigor.

Then, his face lit up with joy.

“Oink! Found it!”

A large sack—filled to the brim with bones.

They had been boiled for so long that they were stark white, stripped of all blood and meat. Not even a sliver of flesh remained.

And yet, they were still precious food.

When split in half, the marrow could be sucked for its rich taste. If the thin membranes on the ends were scraped off with a knife, they could be eaten as though they were slices of raw meat.

A rare treasure in the garbage dump.

“Oink. Who the hell wrapped this up so tightly? Trying to hide it or something?”

Anyone could see that it was pork.

But for those who had no time to question their survival, the type of meat didn’t matter.

To the pig beastman boy, it was a prize. A jackpot.

He wasn’t alone.

There were dozens, no, hundreds like him—beastmen who lived by digging through the city’s refuse.

Pigs rolling in the filth of civilization.

“Still living like this, are you?”

A voice, deep and grave, approached from behind.

The pig beastman boy flinched and quickly hid the bones beneath his body.

“Wh-who...?”

He turned his head.

Before him stood an enormous pig beastman.

A body packed with muscle, marred by countless scars.

Most of them were wounds from battles with beasts. But rather than marks of defeat, the scars spoke of resilience—of survival.

Two curved blades, shaped like tusks, hung from his waist. His eyes, filled with both scorn and pity, looked down upon the boy.

He was a pig beastman.

And at the sight of his folded-back ears, the boy clutched the sack of bones even tighter, his voice rising.

“This is mine! Stay back, or I’ll—”

“Relax. I don’t want it. I don’t even care.”

“Then why are you here?”

“My name is Grull. I come from the Endless Plains.”

Grull.

A name well-known among pig beastmen.

A warrior who had reached enlightenment.

A living legend who protected the wilderness beyond Ende.

The presence he exuded made it clear—this was no imposter.

The pig beastman boy’s eyes widened.

“You’re really... Grull?”

“I’ll show you.”

Grull raised his hand and thrust it into the garbage heap.

Then, with a single motion, he # Nоvеlight # lifted his arm.

Dozens, no, hundreds of pieces of trash floated into the air.

They neither scattered nor fell.

It was a feat only possible through Qi mastery—one that required not only immense strength but also precise control to channel Qi into each individual object.

No ordinary beastman could hope to mimic it.

The one before him was truly Grull.

“Why... why would someone like you come here...?”

The boy had looked upon the pride of their people, and yet, something felt wrong.

For someone of such strength, such glory, to be standing here, in a filthy garbage dump, before a boy rejoicing over discarded bones—it was like a cruel joke.

Moments ago, those bones had been his treasure.

Now, they felt like the deepest shame.

He wanted to throw them away.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

But before he could, Grull knelt before him and asked,

“How long will you live like this?”

“...What?”

“This life. Scavenging through trash, enduring the stench, treating scraps of discarded food as if they were treasure.”

It was neither an insult nor a mockery.

It was simply the truth.

The boy clenched his mouth shut.

If he spoke, he felt as though the shame would consume him.

Grull continued, his voice steady.

“Rather than live like this, come with me. You’re not too late. If you learn under me, you can take control of your own life.”

A master of Qi, a warrior who had reached enlightenment, was offering to personally teach him.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A chance that would never come again.

The boy gave his answer.

“No.”

A blunt refusal.

But it was the truth.

Instead of throwing the sack of bones away, he clutched them even tighter.

Grull’s brow twitched.

“Snort. You really intend to stay here?”

“What’s wrong with that? This is how we all live! Me, my parents, my friends—everyone!”

The boy spat onto the ground.

Once he started speaking, the resentment, long buried within him, spilled out all at once.

“What else am I supposed to do? Work as a courier? That’s the sheep beastmen’s job. Tailoring clothes? The goats do that! Should I serve humans? That’s the dogs' work! The only thing we can do is dig through the trash!”

“There are other ways.”

“Oh, like you? Risking your life fighting in the wilderness? Suffering wounds, struggling to survive, dying the moment luck turns against you?”

He was young, but he was still a pig beastman.

He knew what it had taken for Grull to reach enlightenment.

And he knew what lay beyond Ende’s borders.

A savage land.

A place where predators with razor-sharp fangs hunted the weak.

Where status was dictated by strength.

Where the weak became prey.

No matter how ashamed he was of his life, he had no intention of dying out there.

Better to live in filth than perish in the wilderness.

“No. I refuse. I want to live.”

“...Even if it means living in such misery?”

The boy, hugging the sack of bones, looked up at Grull with resentment.

“It’s not this place that makes me miserable.”

His voice was quiet.

“It’s you.”

The two stared at each other for a long time.

A powerless pig beastman boy.

And the enlightened warrior, Grull.

The first to break the silence was Grull.

“...I see. I’m sorry.”

He forced the words out, then turned away.

Behind him, the sound of sniffing reached his ears.

Perhaps from the stench.

Or perhaps from something else.

Grull chose to ignore it.

As he left the garbage dump, his steps slow and heavy, someone approached him.

A buffalo beastman.

He wore a leather cuirass and a bone necklace.

Though there were many buffalo beastmen in Ende, this one was wilder—rougher—more dangerous.

Even without the necklace of bones, his presence alone made that clear.

The buffalo snorted and spoke.

“Chieftain. I found you. Where have you been?”

“I stopped by my homeland.”

The buffalo beastman hesitated at the word homeland but quickly masked his reaction.

“The Obelisk warriors are waiting. Because you vanished, they’ve been stuck in a standoff.”

“I see. Let’s go.”

“...You don’t feel bad about this?”

“Me? Toward you? Why would I?”

Grull had disappeared without a word while visiting Ende, leaving his warriors in a tense standoff with Obelisk.

A responsible leader would have been concerned.

But Grull was not a normal leader.

“Snort. If they have a problem, they can charge. At me, or at Obelisk! They have the strength and the will, don’t they?”

“...That’s a bit extreme.”

“Then there’s nothing to feel bad about. I won’t apologize for something you failed to do.”

Grull strode past the buffalo beastman.

The absurdity of his words left the buffalo chuckling in disbelief as he followed.

***

That day was noisier than usual.

Even though the mansion was in a secluded area, there were far more people coming and going than normal. And every single one of them seemed to be rushing, as if being chased by something.

The sound of hooves clattered outside the mansion doors before quickly fading into the distance.

I frowned at the unusual bustle and asked,

“There are a lot of people outside today. Shei, do you know what’s going on?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well, you go in and out of Obeli often. I thought you might know something.”

Perhaps irritated by the crowd lingering outside, the regressor snapped back.

“There is something happening, but it has nothing to do with those people.”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing big. Grull is coming.”

“Grull? The orc brawler Grull? The one who lives in the plains beyond Ende?”

Grull—the enlightened pig beastman.

I hadn’t been in Ende long, but even I had heard of him. A pig beastman who had mastered Qi cultivation.

That was no small feat.

Qi techniques were an art honed by humans over thousands of years. Beastkin, with their different senses and instincts, struggled to learn them.

Take, for example, a training exercise where one must maintain balance while keeping a plate on their head and knees. A human would have to focus every muscle in their body to maintain stability.

A beastkin, on the other hand, would instinctively use their tail to balance themselves.

One might think they could just not use their tail, but suppressing an instinct created an entirely new handicap. If they used it, they drifted away from Qi’s principles. If they didn’t, they became unstable.

Their tails and ears—advantages in many ways—became obstacles when training in Qi cultivation.

That was why Lieutenant General Ebon of the Military State had cut off his own ears and tail. It wasn’t just an act of defiance—it was a deliberate sacrifice. In the past, many beastkin had done the same in hopes of overcoming discrimination and mastering Qi.

“So this is a big deal.”

“It would be—if Ende actually knew about it. But it’s classified. No way those people outside are reacting to it.”

“Seems like the information leaked.”

“And who would have leaked it? Who in Obeli would go out of their way to bring that kind of intel down to Ende?”

“Was it you, Shei? You are the least careful person I know.”

“I don’t even talk to anyone here except you!”

“That’s... kind of sad.”

Instead of telling me to go outside and work, maybe you should go out and make some friends.

Shei spent all her time working and had zero social life.

But back to the matter at hand.

Curious, I got up and stretched.

“Should we go check it out?”

“Yeah. It’s bothering me too.”

“Grull is coming, and you’re not going to go?”

“No need. This is between the city and the Beast Faction. I’m not staying in Ende forever—it’s not my place to interfere.”

‘Politics will be involved. That’s annoying, and it’s out of my control anyway.’

Yeah, I figured.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

You do think ahead sometimes.

I grabbed my coat, preparing to head out.

Azzy perked her ears up immediately.

“Woof? Walk?”

“No, you stay here and guard the house.”

“Grrr!”

“Aaargh! Fine, fine!”

She never lets things go.

Sighing, I pulled a raggedy cloak off the coat rack and tossed it to her.

“Here. Wear this.”

“Woof? It’s stuffy!”

“If you don’t wear it, you’re not coming.”

We couldn’t exactly have every dog beastman in the city gawking at her.

Once she was wrapped in the cloak, we left the mansion and stepped onto the streets.

The city was in a frenzy.

Even in a secluded area, the tension was evident. But as we moved toward Ende’s center, the chaos became more apparent.

People were hastily setting up barriers, as if trying to block something.

Beyond those makeshift walls, a roar of voices filled the air.

All around us, emotions surged like waves.

A storm was brewing—not in the sky, but in the hearts of the people.

Hmmm.

So this is how it’s unfolding.

Well... that’s inconvenient.

The regressor, still too short to see past the crowd, hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet.

“What’s going on? Is there some kind of spectacle?”

“No. That’s...”

“Hold on. I’ll fly up and check.”

With a burst of Qi, the regressor shot into the air.

She had barely been up for a second before she froze in shock.

“Ende! Hear our voices!”

“We are all equal beasts!”

“End discrimination!”

“Pigs are not food!”

Ende had a large beastkin population.

But among them, pig beastmen were the majority.

Even if only 10% of the 30,000 pig beastmen gathered, that was still 3,000.

A number larger than most armies.

And right now—

There were far more than 3,000.

A massive crowd of pig beastmen filled the streets, marching forward, their voices shaking the very foundation of the city.