Chapter 152 - Barbarian Lord (4)

Ah, uh, um...

After staring blankly at the deranged brainwashing session, I came to my senses and entered the village.

Though calling it a village wasn't quite accurate. The barbarian sanctuary was closer to a campsite, with tents pitched wherever people pleased, without any boundaries marking whose land was whose.

I passed between them and headed straight for the shaman's tent. Now that I knew where it was, I figured there was no need to go through the chieftain.

'Huh? Nobody's here?'

I lifted the flap of the shaman's tent and found it empty.

With no other choice, I went to the chieftain's tent.

But what was going on? That tent was empty too. Even when the chieftain was absent, the elders took turns keeping watch here.

'What's going on?'

As I lingered outside, an elder whose face I'd seen a few times spotted me.

"Bjorn, son of Jandel? Have you come for the funeral too?"

I didn't need to ask whose funeral it was.

It had been exactly six months since Aynar had secluded herself in the sanctuary.

"... So the day has already come."

"It is an honor to leave something behind for the next generation."

After asking where the funeral was being held, I headed straight there.

The forest was eerily silent. About thirty minutes in, I saw a gathering of solemn-faced barbarians deep among the trees. The shaman and chieftain were there, along with several elders I recognized. Someone else caught my eye first, though.

"Aynar."

Aynar stood unsteadily, staring endlessly at her mentor's body, which rested against a thick tree.

"... Bjorn?"

Her eyes were simply vacant as she called my name. Then, as I stepped closer, she bit her lip.

"I wouldn't have done it if I'd known this was what it meant."

So she hadn't known.

I'd assumed they would have told her.

"... Bjorn, did you know?"

"Yes."

The barbarians called the training Aynar had undergone for the past six months "tempering."

It was the process of strengthening the body to make it a vessel. In the game, completing tempering greatly increased your Physical stats and qualified you to receive spirit succession.

Of course, it could end with tempering alone, but...

"I heard that elder had a chronic illness."

Having heard that the elder who'd chosen Aynar as his successor didn't have much time left, I'd considered this possibility too.

Judging by her reaction, though, this was news to her as well.

"But... I didn't know!"

"He must have cared about you a great deal."

Spirit succession.

Like Spirit Seal, it was one of the shamanic arts unique to barbarians. Through this ritual, a barbarian could pass one of their Essences on to the next generation.

You could only receive it once, incidentally...

And the one passing it on invariably died.

"... Why did no one tell me? If I'd known this was what it meant, I would have stopped immediately."

Aynar murmured the lament, her voice steeped in regret and self-reproach.

The chieftain, who had been silently watching, spoke.

"Kiduva was a coward."

"Do not insult him! Kiduva was a warrior who knew no fear!"

"Then it must have been because you are a coward that Kiduva couldn't explain spirit succession to you."

"I am not a coward—!"

The chieftain cut Aynar's indignant outburst short.

"Then stop whining. If you wish to prove you are no coward, stop dishonoring his death and bear witness, warrior."

"..."

"No one in this world is free from suffering. Even so, you must overcome it, face it, and move forward. Such is the warrior's path."

Aynar pressed her lips shut, and the chieftain said no more.

The funeral continued in silence.

The shaman approached the body resting against the tree, smeared blood on its face, and shook a bell. Then he sprinkled a solution around it to keep insects from gnawing at the corpse.

The barbarians watched the proceedings in silence. After a while, the shaman announced the end of the funeral.

"The soul of Kiduva, third son of Tohar, has left his flesh and taken residence in the forest."

The body left in the forest would now rot until only bones remained. When that time came, the shaman would crush even those bones into fine pieces and scatter them through the forest.

The warriors stood before the body in turn, either cutting off some hair or making a wound on their hand to sprinkle blood around it before leaving.

It didn't take long.

"..."

Only Aynar and I remained now.

I approached the body first, cut off some of my hair with a knife, and scattered it around him.

"It's your turn now."

Aynar didn't answer.

Rather than press her further, I simply left without another word. This was a farewell she hadn't been prepared for. She would need time alone to come to terms with it.

* * *

"Heh heh. I knew you would come, warrior."

After leaving the forest, I had gone straight into the shaman's tent.

"Did you bring the material?"

"Yes."

"Let me see it."

As instructed, I took out the Immortal Heart I'd carefully stowed in my backpack. The troll's heart lay on a cloth inside its box, still beating faintly.

"Did you obtain it yourself?"

"No, I bought it at the Trade market."

"For how much?"

I didn't know why he wanted to know, but when I answered, the shaman cackled.

"How did we end up with someone like you? You truly were born blessed with wealth, warrior."

Most of my conversations with the shaman went like this, but today it rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

Was that why?

I snapped before I knew it.

"Don't talk about being blessed with wealth when you don't know a thing."

The shaman merely grinned at my words.

"Hmm. You returned alive with all your limbs intact, so the problem cannot be with you yourself... You must have lost something?"

"I don't want to answer that."

"Very well. That isn't a bad choice either."

"..."

"Warrior, the more precious things you lose, the stronger you will become."

Why not just curse me outright? Still, I held my tongue. Somehow, the more I talked to this old man, the more I felt myself getting drawn in.

"Enough of that. Can I receive the Spirit Seal today?"

"Of course."

The shaman readily nodded at my question. I'd thought he might say he was exhausted from conducting the funeral or something.

CLINK.

I deposited the million Stones the shaman requested for supplementary materials into the jar, then lay facedown on the floor.

At last, I had reached the sixth engraving of the Immortal path.

"Once again, there are three paths."

After listening to a brief explanation, I chose one.

There was nothing to deliberate over. This was the whole reason I'd been dumping most of my fortune into engravings from the very beginning.

"I'll choose the Soul of Arms."

"Heh heh. You cannot change it later, even if you ask."

The shaman began driving needles into my body. Before long, sharp pain washed over me.

Still, it was easier to endure than before. That was a matter of mindset, not the intensity of the pain.

I knew an enormous reward awaited me on the other side.

「Stage 6 of the Immortal's engravings has been activated.」

「Soul Regeneration increases greatly.」

「Ability increases by +240.」

One of the hardest stats to obtain.

My MP regeneration had increased drastically. Put simply, I could now use [Gigantification] more often and keep it active longer.

Not that this was anything compared to the main course.

「The Soul of Arms takes residence in your body.」

「The unique effect [Unity] enhances equipment performance in proportion to the character's stats.」

[Unity].

Unlike the active skill [Wild Outburst], this was a Passive Skill that remained in effect at all times.

It was already quite powerful in its own right...

But this skill had one hidden feature.

Perhaps because its concept was becoming one with your arms and armor, it kept your equipment from breaking when you used [Gigantification].

In other words, I no longer had to go through the trouble of stripping off my equipment.

No, more than that—I could now smash enemies with a gigantic mace and shield!

"Heh heh heh heh. VEHELLL, AAAAAA..."

Watching me laugh almost as if I were sobbing despite the pain lingering in my body, the shaman muttered,

"Heh heh. He really isn't right in the head."

Like a true barbarian, I let someone else's opinion go in one ear and out the other.

* * *

「Bjorn Jandel」

Level: 4

Physical: 424.4 / Mental: 320.3 (New +1) / Ability: 736 (New +240)

Item Level: 197 (New -770)

Overall Combat Index: 1529.95 (New +48.5)

Obtained Essences: Corpse Golem - Rank 7 / Orc Hero - Rank 5 / Ogre - Rank 3

* * *

How much time had passed since the sixth engraving was finished?

It was still bright outside the tent. I gulped down water from the pitcher on the bedside table and asked,

"Don't tell me a whole day has passed?"

"Heh heh heh. Are you going to cry to me about how hard it was?"

Come on, a simple yes would have done.

No matter how many times I heard it, I couldn't understand his way of talking, but I didn't bother arguing.

Well, more accurately, I didn't have the energy.

I was getting up and gathering my backpack when he spoke.

"Warrior."

Normally, this was when the shaman told me he was tired and to get lost. Instead, he called out to me.

Then he dropped a bombshell I hadn't seen coming.

"How did you come to receive an oracle from a human god?"

My heart lurched, but only for a moment.

I let out a long sigh. He clearly already knew everything, so there would be no point denying it.

"Who on earth told you? No, how many people know about it now?"

"That ring you're wearing is so deeply entwined with your fate. How could I not know? Heh heh. Don't worry. The others won't notice a thing."

The shaman sneered, asking what use eyes were if they were no better than knotholes.

That was when I realized he seemed oddly pleased.

I asked cautiously,

"Will you tell the chieftain?"

"Why should I?"

Uh, when he put it that way, I had no answer...

"It is merely an outdated tradition. Much like what I did in that forest yesterday. Thousands of years ago, we left our homeland and became part of this city. Through that, we learned that gods exist, and learned civilization in the truest sense."

"What are you trying to say?"

"We may rely on and follow the spirits of our ancestors, but why should we deny and hate beings that truly exist and benefit our lives? That is nothing but foolish obstinacy. We can hardly complain if people call us savages."

The shaman hadn't changed a bit.

Especially in his habit of making things needlessly hard to understand. Of course, now that he had something on me, I couldn't say anything that might upset him.

"... Then how do you think the chieftain would react?"

"If he learned you'd received an oracle?"

"Yes."

The shaman cackled before answering.

"Why ask what you already know? That brute would brand you a traitor and drive you out on the spot. Heh! Perhaps he might even chop off your head and burn you."

... So it was just as I'd thought.

Fuck, did I have no choice but to live in suspense until I finished the Spirit Seal?

As I mulled that over with a bitter taste in my mouth, the shaman continued.

"Warrior, you worry needlessly."

"Needlessly?"

"Therianthropes, dwarves, and elves all abandoned their outdated traditions long ago. Why do you suppose that was?"

I didn't need to think hard about it.

Earth's history had followed the same course.

Reform.

Whenever new ideas and beliefs were needed, people willing to turn their backs on the old era had always emerged.

Later generations called them great figures.

'This crazy old man...'

Then I understood what the shaman was trying to say.

"Are you afraid of being driven out, warrior? If so, the answer to your worries is very simple."

In the end, the old man was a barbarian too.

Otherwise, he could never have dreamed up a solution like this.

If a problem arose, smash it out of existence.

In other words...

"You need only become chieftain."

Take over the barbarian tribe before they could throw me out.

"Well? Isn't that a far more warrior-like path?"

I didn't know about warrior-like.

But I couldn't help grinning.

A barbarian who hadn't even been one for a year.

Who was, in fact, an evil spirit.

And he was telling me to become the Barbarian Lord and reshape this race to my liking.

"You say some interesting things, shaman."

It was a rather tempting proposition.

Especially since it was reasonably sensible.