Chương 79: The Ancestors’ Prophecy

Karath had already begun sensing that something was wrong immediately after the drake hunt. Until then, he had been too busy facing one terrifying monster after another, first the ogre and then the drake, to think seriously about it. The ogre they hunted before the drake had been the first one to appear near the settlement in fifteen years, not counting the creature Garthon killed before Karath was born. Ogres appeared occasionally, so the older Bloodclaw orcs at least knew what they were.

The drake was entirely different. Not a single member of the tribe had known such a monster existed. That meant nothing like it had ever appeared in the surrounding region. Even before the ogre and drake arrived, both the number and strength of the monsters around the Bloodclaw settlement had seemed to increase. The Grimwood Mountains might have been a paradise for monsters, but they had never been this hellish.

Had the environment always been so dangerous, the Bloodclaw Tribe into which Karath was born would have disappeared long ago. Karath therefore suspected that something had changed throughout the mountains, although he did not know the cause. What happened at the Warriorhearts settlement supported that theory. Bloodclaw was not the only tribe facing monsters that had rarely appeared in the past.

"When you say we should join together, you cannot mean that we should remain neighbours as we are now. Are you asking the Warriorhearts Tribe to move to your settlement?" Chief Moldin did not look pleased by Karath's proposal. Karath had expected that reaction. He had considered tribal integration for a long time, particularly how to combine tribes while minimising conflict. Orcs respected strength. The strongest warrior in a village became its chief.

Karath had occasionally wondered whether he could simply visit another tribe, break its chief's skull, and absorb everyone under his rule. The idea contained a fundamental problem. Orcs valued strength because they believed themselves descendants of warriors. The most important duty of those descendants was protecting their tribespeople. The strongest warrior became chief because that warrior was most capable of defending the settlement.

If strength alone allowed an outsider to rule them, then the orcs should have willingly served ogres or drakes. More importantly, if an outsider appeared and announced that he would rule Bloodclaw, Karath's first thought would be to break that outsider's skull, even if the challenger were stronger than him. Merely demonstrating Bloodclaw's power by slaughtering the minotaurs would never be enough to unite the tribes. Trying to force Warriorhearts into submission would only create fiercer resistance.

That was simply the nature of orcs. Could Karath persuade them through logic instead? Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. That would take an absurd amount of time. Even earning the absolute trust of the Bloodclaw Tribe had required years. Convincing an isolated primitive tribe to follow an outsider through reason alone could take even longer. Karath had continued thinking until he discovered one method.

It was a method possible precisely because his targets were primitive orcs.

"Chief Moldin, do you know what this weapon is made from?" Karath held out the bone axe he had used to reduce the minotaurs to ruined flesh.

"You said it was made from the bones of a monster called a drake."

"That is correct. The drake was even more dangerous than an ogre. Then allow me to ask you something. How do you believe the Bloodclaw Tribe killed such a monster?" Moldin and Dagon frowned at the riddle. They seemed to think intensely without finding an answer.

"Ah!" Dagon suddenly remembered something.

"Brother Kaden said Brother Karath used shamanic power to destroy the drake's head!"

"Krahahaha! Exactly. Chief Moldin, have you ever seen a shamanic art powerful enough to kill a creature larger than an ogre?"

"No. Moldin has never witnessed such a thing. Are you saying the Bloodclaw Tribe inherited a ritual of that power?"

"Our tribe possessed no such ritual until the ancestors gave it to us."

"The ancestors gave it to you?"

"Yes. On the day the drake approached our tribe, the spirit of an ancestor appeared before me. The ancestor taught me the shamanic art required to kill the drake, then left me with a prophecy." Karath stopped at the most important moment. Moldin and Dagon swallowed dryly and stared at him.

"Soon, a calamity will descend upon this forest, placing all our people in danger!" He suddenly raised his voice after the silence, drawing them deeper into his performance.

"The ancestor commanded me to gather our people so that we could prepare for that calamity together." Karath lowered his voice to a solemn whisper, forcing them to focus upon every word.

"Ah..." Moldin and Dagon looked deeply shaken. There was only one way to persuade and unite primitive orc tribes quickly. Karath would invoke the ancestors they worshipped. The story would never have worked the previous evening, when the Warriorhearts orcs considered him a liar. Today was different. The arrival of the minotaurs had allowed Karath to demonstrate his power spectacularly. Still, a successful persuasion required certainty. Karath's experience running a company had taught him that much.

A mediocre presentation might appear successful at the time, only to receive a polite rejection later.

"Hup." Hummmmm. Karath manipulated the mana circling his heart. He had spent a considerable amount during his furious assault against the minotaurs, but recovered a little on the way to the chief's house. Whoooosh. A powerful wind began swirling around him. The spell possessed no lethal ability and amounted to little more than a powerful fan. Even so, Dagon's and Moldin's already widened eyes grew larger.

They stood inside a primitive earthen house, yet a sudden gale had appeared from nowhere and wrapped itself around Karath. To primitive tribespeople, few sights could have seemed more mystical. It was still not enough. Karath sent mana into the bone axe. A brilliant sphere of flame formed along its blade.

"Th-that is..." The eyes of Moldin and Dagon were immediately drawn toward it.

"Haa!" Karath swung the flaming axe toward the earthen floor.

"Dig." He added one final spell. Karath coughed inwardly. Wind and Dig were only First and Second Circle spells, and the magic engraved into the axe performed most of its own calculations. However, Karath had not recovered enough mana after the battle. Blood rose from inside his body. He could not show weakness now. For the sake of a perfect presentation, Karath swallowed the blood and slammed the axe into the ground. BOOM! The floor exploded. The Fireball's force and the Dig spell carved a crater into the earth.

Dust and soil rose into the gale surrounding Karath, forming a strange curtain around him.

"This is another shamanic art given by the ancestors. It was only through their knowledge and prophecy that Bloodclaw defeated the minotaurs so easily." Surrounded by the perfectly arranged spectacle, Karath spoke as though nothing had happened while forcing the blood back down.

"Th-then did you not come here for a bride search?" Moldin's shocked question went farther than Karath had intended. That had not been part of the plan. Karath concealed his surprise with the shamelessness developed through years of business.

"That is correct, Chief. Several days ago, the spirit of an ancestor from the Warriorhearts Tribe appeared before me. The ancestor warned that danger would soon reach Warriorhearts and commanded me to save its people."

"It cannot be!"

"The ancestors have not abandoned us!" Both orcs looked ready to shed tears from gratitude.

"Then let us join together, Chief Moldin. Following the will of the ancestors, we must combine our strength and overcome the coming crisis!"

"Brother Karath is completely correct!" Until moments ago, Moldin had addressed Karath casually as a chief speaking to a young warrior. Now he spoke with automatic respect. Such was the power of primitive faith. After successfully persuading Moldin, Karath immediately began discussing the relocation. Monsters could appear during the journey, so they decided to move the women and children in several smaller groups for safety. The first group would depart the following morning.

It would include Karath and the other four Bloodclaw warriors, five Warriorhearts warriors, and twenty Warriorhearts women and children. Thirty orcs would travel together. Dagon was assigned to lead the Warriorhearts advance group.