Chapter 183 – Resurfacing
While the guide and the knights remained unconscious, the dimwit frequently went in and out of the cavern where they were sleeping.
The leader did not seem particularly pleased about it, but he did not stop the dimwit either.
Perhaps it was because he himself had been caught secretly watching humans, or perhaps there was some other reason.
“Just watch them quietly. Don’t touch anything or make any noise. They mustn’t realize you’re beside them.”
As I spoke to the back of the dimwit’s head while he headed toward the cavern yet again, seemingly never tiring of it, he nodded without looking back.
Well, it should be fine.
All three of them were blindfolded, so unless the dimwit caused a commotion, nothing troublesome would happen.
Besides, two of them were still completely unconscious.
Unable to understand what could possibly be entertaining about watching unconscious humans, I approached Ratel and the others, who had settled near the entrance.
“Did the young orc go there again?”
Jing noticed that I had returned alone and asked.
“Yes. He merely watches them without doing anything, but he seems to find it entertaining.”
“Aren’t all children like that? They sometimes obsess over things that adults cannot understand.”
It was difficult to imagine the young Duke Plin behaving so stubbornly, but that image still seemed vivid in Jing’s memories.
The smile unconsciously forming on his lips made that clear.
I had no intention of needlessly interrupting his happy recollection, so I silently turned and headed out of the cave.
Or rather, I tried to.
“Where are you going alone?”
However, Jing had already finished reminiscing and stopped me yet again.
“I’m going to loosen up my body. I can’t remain on Jing’s back forever. I’m not a newborn baby.”
“Even so, wouldn’t it be dangerous to wander through the forest alone? What if you encounter a ferocious animal….?”
I would become someone who had encountered a ferocious animal.
Then we would continue on our separate ways.
Or perhaps we would awkwardly exchange greetings.
However, Jing still did not fully understand my abilities, so he could not conceal his concern.
It seemed that destroying a single holy relic truly was not enough to free someone entirely from the brainwashing.
“You’ve already heard this, but I can transform into an orc. And animals generally don’t attack me.”
I could even receive their assistance.
“If you’re still worried, I’ll take a weapon with me.”
I approached the pile of fallen leaves that served as our bedding.
Then I picked up the holy relic that still lay beneath it.
It had become an old, battered sword, but it could probably still be considered a weapon.
“Even with a weapon, you could collapse while alone. I’ll simply accompany you.”
I was spared the need to give the somewhat rude response that I would rather collapse on the ground.
As I desperately searched for an excuse, the dimwit provided one.
Perhaps he had grown tired of watching the humans, because he had emerged early for some reason. I had never been so pleased to see him.
“Then I can go with the dimwit. Even if I collapse, he can easily carry someone of my size.”
“Kweek?”
Suddenly addressed, the dimwit tilted his head, unable to understand the situation.
“Let’s go hunting together.”
“Kweek! Hunting! Good!”
The dimwit eagerly took the bait I offered and dashed out of the cave.
Leaving behind Jing, whose expression showed that he was still far from reassured, I hurried after the dimwit.
Ever since learning that the holy relic had not been destroyed, one concern had been troubling me.
What if its power to brainwash people remained intact as long as the holy relic itself was not destroyed?
Jing had proven that this concern was merely excessive anxiety on my part.
More precisely, the change in his behavior had proven it.
The fact that he allowed me to take Sierra’s sword, which no longer contained any power, and leave as though fleeing was already tremendous progress.
Yes, this was normal.
Although I was not currently a fully grown adult….I still looked like a healthy man, no matter who saw me. It was fortunate that Jing had finally stopped displaying the strange behavior of excessively protecting me.
His change from obsessively focusing on my every word and action meant that the brainwashing within the holy relic had weakened, if only slightly.
“Kweek, but are you human?”
The dimwit, who had been walking ahead and surveying the forest, suddenly spoke to me.
“Me? I’m human. For now.”
“Kweek, for now? Kweek, does that mean there are times when you aren’t human?”
“Yes. As you’ve seen, I can transform into an orc, and I can also transform into other animals.”
That did make it somewhat difficult to call me human.
“I was born as a human, at least.”
When I vaguely glossed over my identity, which was difficult to define precisely, the dimwit stared at me with a puzzled expression.
“Is that really so important? No matter what I transform into, I’m still the same inside.”
“Kweek! That’s true! Kweek! No matter what you become, you’ll always be obnoxious!”
When someone insulted you so innocently, it drained away any desire to fight back.
Besides, this seemed less like genuine malice and more like….
“Are you copying what the leader calls me?”
“Kweek! Am I?! Kweek, I suppose people do call you obnoxious quite often!”
Apparently unaware that he had been imitating the leader, the dimwit tilted his head and continued forward.
The dimwit had been striding energetically ahead, far too loudly for someone on a hunt, when he abruptly stopped.
I had been walking while glaring at the back of his head, but fortunately managed to stop before colliding with him.
“What is it all of a sudden?”
Instead of answering my question, he merely stared straight ahead in silence.
What was he staring at so blankly?
To discover what had captured his attention, I looked over the dimwit’s shoulder at the scenery ahead.
Beyond the dry leaves and across the unobstructed view, I could see the cabin half-submerged in water.
“Kweek, you could see it from the entrance before, but the grass has grown a lot.”
“Did the leader observe the humans that often?”
“Kweek, the leader liked it. Kweek, the leader says he hates humans, but he actually likes them. Kweek, so I tried imitating them, but he didn’t like it very much.”
The dimwit, who had been muttering absentmindedly, turned his head toward me.
“Kweek, you’re human, but you’re also like us. Kweek, so if you stay here, the leader will like it too.”
He was saying something that would make the leader’s blood pressure rise until he collapsed.
“Idiot, the leader didn’t simply like humans. If he liked every human, he wouldn’t have hated Ratel so intensely.”
“Kweek, that human doesn’t count! No, he’s different! Kweek, that human is far too strong to be considered human. Kweek, you’re human, but you’re also like us, so….”
“You said it yourself. Even when I was an orc, the leader still called me an obnoxious bastard.”
“Kweek, that’s true, but…. Kweek, then why did the leader watch those humans so intently?”
“Who knows? Ask him yourself.”
I could not be certain what the leader had wanted.
I only vaguely suspected that the objects of his observation had not simply been humans, but the relationships between them.
Regardless, that was not something I should interfere with and define for him.
“Ask your leader yourself and think about it yourself. You don’t have to pretend to be stupid anymore, do you?”
“Kweek, right! Kweek, I’m smart!”
The dimwit excitedly shouted as he thumped his chest.
“Kweek! The leader said I’m all grown up now! Kweek! He said I’m smart, so I’ll learn quickly!”
The memory still seemed to delight him, and the dimwit was brimming with excitement.
Now that the leader no longer had anything holding him back, he was freely doting on the dimwit like an embarrassingly affectionate parent.
“Is that why you came out hunting alone this time? Did he tell you to practice what you learned by yourself?”
The dimwit had clearly forgotten his original purpose at the mention of hunting, and he hurriedly surveyed the surroundings.
He soon picked up several thick branches lying on the ground and sat down.
A small, makeshift trap took shape in the dimwit’s hands.
After looking proudly down at it, the dimwit pulled me away from the trap.
“Kweek, the leader said he trusts me now. Kweek, because he trusts me, he said we’ll live together from now on! Kweek, it’ll be fun!”
Unable to contain his excitement, the dimwit’s voice steadily grew louder.
Talking so loudly would drive all the animals away, but he would gradually learn that as well.
“Yes. Forget about me and the other humans, and enjoy living together from now on.”
“Kweek, I won’t forget you even after you leave! Kweek! I won’t forget you, and I’ll always be grateful!”
Do whatever you want.
After responding halfheartedly, I pulled away from the dimwit as soon as he stopped walking.
Then I turned in the opposite direction from where he intended to hide.
“Kweek? Where are you going? Kweek, we have to hunt.”
“I didn’t come here to hunt.”
“Kweek?”
Leaving the dimwit to make a puzzled sound, I surveyed the surroundings.
We were far enough from the cave, it was daytime, and there was no danger of being attacked by the other orcs.
Most importantly, the protagonist was not here to interfere with what I intended to do.
“Kweek, if you didn’t come to hunt, why did you follow me?”
“There was something I wanted to test.”
I drew Sierra’s sword, which I had brought from the cave under the pretext of hunting.
It was fortunate that Ratel and Jing had allowed me to take the sword without suspicion.
Even though it had become worthless scrap, the fact that nobody cared when I took the Emperor’s holy relic was also a good sign.
It meant that the imperial family’s status had fallen within Jing’s subconscious.
“Kweek, I hate that thing. Kweek, just throw it away.”
The dimwit had approached without my noticing and now muttered with a frown.
He apparently felt repulsed by the sword that had severed the leader’s neck.
“I was already planning to throw it away.”
After confirming whether my assumption was correct.
Swallowing those final words, I recalled the sensation of creating the crystallization of power inside the cave.
“K-Kweek, what are you suddenly doing?”
Perhaps I looked strange standing there silently holding the sword, because the dimwit anxiously waved his hands.
“If I collapse, remove the sword from my hand. I’ll regain consciousness on my own after some time.”
“Kweek, what? Kweek, is it dangerous?”
It probably was not dangerous, but neither was it easy enough for me to expect success on my first attempt.
I intended to tear off a small fragment of my power and place it inside the holy relic, just as someone had first done a thousand years ago.
In short, this was practice.
The power that had remained within the holy relic and the cave had been fragments of Sierra Abiran’s power, left behind when she broke the first contract.
It seemed that I could remove that power and return it.
If so, couldn’t I also breathe my power into something inanimate—this sword that had become little more than scrap?
There was nothing more meaningless than imagining oneself running before even taking the first step.
“Kweek, y-you’re not going to die, are you?”
The dimwit drove my first step straight toward the gates of death.
I already told you I wasn’t going to die.
Ignoring his fuss, I focused on the hand gripping the sword.
Then I attempted to gather the power spread throughout my body at my fingertips.
Based on my previous experience, what awaited me next should have been pain intense enough to make my hand feel as though it were burning away.
As I watched the light slowly gather at my fingertips, I swallowed and prepared myself for the impending burning sensation.
“.......”
To my astonishment, there was no pain whatsoever.
Instead of scorching agony, what enveloped my hand was softer and heavier—and, above all, not hot.
Warmth was a more fitting description for the sensation, and I lowered my gaze.
The sword was absorbing the light extremely slowly.
Although my fingertips were where the power was converging, a languid sensation enveloped my entire body, as though I were submerged in warm water.
Was the intensity lower because my power was weaker than Sierra’s?
Whatever the reason, there was nothing wrong with it being slow and comfortable.
I could focus on the power far better than when I had desperately forced it into Ratel’s body.
Once I had grown somewhat accustomed to the sensation of dividing and inserting my power, I stopped its flow.
Sierra’s sword, which had been glowing brightly, gradually lost its light.
That did not mean it returned to being the same old piece of scrap it had been before.
When I raised the sword, Sierra’s blade glittered beneath the sunlight.
At the very least, it no longer looked like an ordinary, worn-out sword.
“That ended more easily than I expected.”
I turned toward the dimwit, intending to tell him that we should finish the hunt and return.
However, the dimwit remained motionless and did not respond.
I had thought he seemed strangely quiet for someone who had been so frightened and frantic.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
I approached the dimwit, who was standing with an uncharacteristic calmness, and realized that he had not been listening to me from the beginning.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he had not been able to hear me.
His eyes stared blankly into empty space, as if he were seeing something invisible to me—or as though his consciousness had completely slipped away.
To awaken the dazed dimwit, I firmly grabbed his shoulder.
Only then did he appear to regain his senses, blinking several times.
“What are you doing? Are you sick?”
At my question, the dimwit moved his eyes and silently looked at me.
After I watched his suddenly subdued figure for several minutes, the dimwit slowly opened his mouth.
“Kweek, I remembered something I had forgotten.”
“What did you suddenly remember?”
“Kweek, in the cave. Kweek, what was promised. Kweek, I remember it. Kweek, now I can tell you.”
His confident eyes and complicated expression suggested that this would be a long story.
After all, the memory he had recalled must have been from a thousand years ago, passed down through the position of leader.
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