Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Paying the Tab (2)
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Something had felt off.
It was like that when we came to this island, and even when we ran into the orcs heading here.
There were always spirits clinging to the orcs.
Even on that cramped raft.
"Did they have nowhere else to go...?"
That must be why they stuck by the orcs' sides.
I'd thought it was just how their race was, but apparently not.
"Chwiik! Is this setup ready to go?"
Gullak and Barku paced back and forth in front of me.
Pointing at the table laden with food.
"No fruit?"
I'd put together a proper ancestral offering table, but this was the problem.
Over here, meat.
Over there, meat.
Fish grilling in the corner.
Meat everywhere.
"It's all meat."
"Chwiik? Why put fruit on it?"
"...?"
"It's for the spirits anyway, right? Orcs don't eat fruit."
"..."
One thing I'd realized after spending the last few days with them.
Gullak was surprisingly sharp.
He had a knack for leaving you speechless sometimes.
"Chwiik! Meat is best for warriors."
"Chwiik!"
What could I do when they insisted?
It was an orc ancestral table, so it had to suit them.
"Unbelievable. I'm too stunned to even speak."
"Same here."
"Heh heh..."
Orcs preparing an ancestral table—a sight to behold.
The elders just chuckled.
- ....%$&?
The spirits were already peeking around the table.
And Drjant had plopped down right next to it...?
"Why are you sitting there?"
"These orc bastards grill meat pretty damn well."
Drjant lifted a massive beer mug to his lips.
Gulp.
Gulp.
"Kuh...! Nothing beats meat with beer."
He was straight-up pilfering meat from someone else's ancestral table.
"Hey, why are you eating that? Shouldn't you wait until after the rite?"
I was jumping up and down in frustration, but the orcs didn't seem to care.
Barku was hovering nearby, sniffing around.
"Little dwarf! Gimme some too."
"Hm? Right you are. You lot probably haven't tasted beer before."
The unbiased dwarf Drjant.
When Drjant cheerfully handed over some beer, Barku's eyes went wide as saucers.
"Chwiik! T-tasty!"
"Chwiik, me too!"
"So this is beer?"
Drjant hauled out a huge beer keg entirely.
Thud—
"Hey, you monsters. Taste the dwarves' brew! This is what beer is!"
"Chwiik!"
"The pain of battle fades away!"
"Chwiik! Put it on the ancestral table too!"
Maybe because they'd acknowledged the beer's flavor.
Drjant laughed heartily and pulled out another keg.
Thud—
"Hahaha! These monsters know good beer!"
"Chwiik!"
"Hey, orc! You're Barku, right? You chug beer like this!"
Drjant downed a mug.
Barku followed suit, shotgunning his beer.
The other orcs, seeing that, started chugging away.
"This is insane. Is this a rite or a party?"
Drjant and the orcs were hitting it off, laughing and shouting joyfully.
Using the ancestral table's meat as their snacks.
"You're not supposed to eat that yet... Whatever, I give up."
After the drunken revelry died down a bit.
The drumbeats began to echo.
Thoom—
Thoom—
Gullak's ritual dance commenced.
Soon enough, flames roared to life.
Whoosh—
"He's gotten faster."
Not just that—the intensity had ramped up too.
The colors were even more vivid.
"Chwiik! I send my brothers' souls to the warriors' land."
Up to now, it was much like before.
The one difference?
Gullak started murmuring an incantation.
It felt like turning a roar into words.
No real vocabulary or structure, but something was definitely forming.
Fwoosh—
Just like the shamans from my dream.
But when Gullak moved, the result was different.
The raging flames began to settle.
After concentrating intensely for a while, Gullak stopped.
"...A candle flame?"
The flicker vanished from the fire, leaving it serene.
Like taking a candle flame and scaling it up.
"He's even copying that?"
How the hell was that possible?
I never imagined what I taught him would manifest like this.
His shamanic sorcery was filling in the gaps of his still-immature skills.
Thoom—
"Chwiik! Orc souls!"
- ....!
- ...&%&%$!
The souls of his brothers that had followed Gullak.
Their trembling eyes watched his grown form.
Thooom—
Madness and ferocity poured out.
The spirits began to move, delighted.
Toward the sacred flames.
- ....
- ....
The spirits looking at me.
Surrounded by countless gazes, I nodded.
"Go on, all of you."
- ....
One orc spirit nodded back and stepped into the fire.
Whoosh—
In that instant, the briefly surging flames settled once more.
Another halted spirit entered.
Whoosh—
Fwoosh—
The number of spirits here had drastically dwindled.
The rest stared blankly at me, not ready to go yet.
"Chwiik, human shaman! Have all the brothers gone?"
"No. Not all. Looks like some don't want to."
"Then I'll send the shaman's soul back."
Having said that, Gullak just stared at me.
"...Why?"
"Can the shaman's soul appear?"
"Give it a shot. It'll probably come."
Just a hunch.
A hunch bordering on certainty.
It had exhausted itself showing me things, so it should rest now.
Grandma wasn't the type to bind souls like that anyway.
"Chwiik! Got it."
The flames flickered wildly, roaring up.
Fortunately, the spirit manifested.
Far more recovered than last time.
I glanced at it, then looked away.
"You not going?"
- ...&^%&
"Yeah."
I didn't catch what it said, but pointing at Gullak meant it was staying too.
"..."
Once that spirit returned, a blue gem would appear, right?
"Hm..."
Had it stayed here simply because it couldn't achieve Buddhahood?
The question churned in my mind.
Or were "Buddhahood" and "warriors' land" different concepts?
Whoosh—
As the flames swelled.
Our eyes met.
"...!"
This time, no dream.
Memories flooded my mind.
Injured orcs appeared.
Seemed like the back figure from that previous dream.
"...They survived somehow."
Orcs arriving on this island, fleeing undead.
Orcs who died upon arrival.
The lone orc shaman among them.
A voice whispered past my ear.
- The orcs have all scattered.
- Chwiik...!
- The shamans have scattered too.
- I'll stay here for shamans of the future.
With that, the scenes raced through my head.
The orc shaman, left alone in the end.
Sending orc souls into the flames, guarding this place.
- My life ends now.
The orc shaman gathered his last strength for one final ritual.
The soul detached from the body, entering the fire.
But unlike the others, it didn't vanish—it took root there.
- I must pass on the shaman's knowledge.
In that moment, all the visions faded from my mind.
"That's why you bound the soul to the flames."
It had looked overly worn and exhausted.
Almost like a spell akin to hibernation.
The shamans getting captured had dragged things out longer than planned.
Leading to Gullak's arrival here.
"So you still can't go?"
At my question, the shaman spirit shook its head.
Then it pointed back and forth between the tattered book and me.
- ...Your... excellence.
Whoosh—
The spirit began to burn.
Incinerating all karma and lingering attachments, purifying itself clean.
The spirit grew fainter by the moment.
This must be what orc Buddhahood looked like.
I recalled the prophecy I'd given Gullak.
"Those who've lost their way will gather..."
The lost would find their path.
Who knew it meant this?
I'd thought it was just about rallying orcs, but no.
"Chwiik...!"
Gullak slumped his shoulders while Elder Closel watched the flames intently.
"A blue gem really did remain. Just like that time."
I'd once received a blue gem from the elder.
It had been embedded in Sir Gismond's statue at the graveyard.
The one in the flames now was vastly larger.
Bigger than my head.
"Maybe because it's an ancient soul... It's huge."
As I moved toward it.
Something whooshed past me.
"Drjant?"
"This is..."
Drjant stared into the flames, face full of shock.
"Hurry and fetch that rattle of yours."
"My rattle?"
"Looks similar."