To distract himself from Vorgarag's scary expression, Ed took a look at the fainted Shel and examined her scars. Her current outfit was likely the one she wore to battle and there were therefore a lot of cuts from which he could see new and old scars. It got Ed thinking.
'Aren't shamans usually capable of healing injuries through magic?' It was an eyebrow-raiser for him. Most of the orcs he had met had some sort of scar. And Vorgarag was usually studying magic arrays and the like so it was unlikely that he had healing duties.
"Hey Vorgarag, how come you guys don't have any sort of healing techniques?" Regardless of how primitive the civilization was as long as they were a civilization, they were bound to have come up with some sort of healing techniques magical or not. Whether they actually worked was another matter entirely.
"Hm?" Vorgarag wasn't really paying attention to Ed as he was thinking of ways to abuse his undying helper minion.
"Ah, I think teacher mentioned that once. The herbs were harvested to extinction, they never grew back." Vorgarag said disappointedly. He was quite bothered by this as well since he definitely needed to watch over the health of the remaining tribesmen. Unfortunately, he didn't know too much as his teacher had glossed over the detail and was something that probably didn't happen recently.
Vorgarag then remembered the cavern in the woods which he had previously intended to visit. Maybe it would be a good idea to do so now he began to think...
Ed was similarly thinking about what he had just heard, he felt it was a real shame. Although Shel was a muscular woman and therefore didn't have that gentle look it was still a shame to see a woman riddled with scars.
"Ed, we need to talk" Vorgarag seemed to have accepted the matter of resuscitation already but he hadn't tackled the implications of it. I mean, just because Ed could resuscitate it didn't mean it was normal or fine to do so, right? There had to be special circumstances behind it, maybe even godly circumstances.
The stories Vorgarag had heard about the cavern were fairly strange. A lot of them were likely baseless rumors but it was worth heeding caution. That being the case Ed was the perfect candidate.
But only in that aspect. Whether he could be trusted with visiting the tribe's ancient records was another matter. Where Ed came from was something he had been both curious and wary about. Vorgarag had let his guard down when facing Ed lately since he had found him to be fairly naive but he couldn't ignore the issue anymore.
For all he knew Ed could be in cahoots with god and if that were the case he couldn't look favorably upon him. He wouldn't have tried to find a way out of the tribe's current dilemma if he trusted god after all. His current situation could be said to be a result of god's thoughtless actions. As a matter of fact, that was likely it! Thoughtless! It never cared for them in the first place!
Vorgarag was internally seething with anger after figuring it out. Nonetheless, he had diverged from the original topic. He took in a large breath of air and then breathed out, the simple action quickly calmed him down.
Ed watched Vorgarag's actions with curiosity before taking the initiative to ask him what he wanted to talk about, although he already had an idea.
"What about?" He simply asked. The moment he sacrificed himself for Vorgarag and still chose to return he was ready to be questioned. If nobody questioned him he would do the questioning instead, like, were they serious?
Vorgarag had more or less expected this response so he went straight to the point and asked what he had been meaning to ask for a long time.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" He asked somewhat harshly. He wanted to make it clear to Ed that their previous relationship could be affected if the question wasn't answered.
Although Ed knew that this question would come he hadn't found a reasonable explanation, he was thus still a bit troubled by it. It wasn't that he intended to lie it was just that he really didn't know what to tell him.
'Do I tell him we are inside of a dungeon?' Was it similar to telling a person they were living inside of a simulation? He couldn't be sure.
'Then I should probably just tell him about the existence of the crypt' He just had to make it sound like that was where he originated from which wouldn't technically be wrong.
"This might be a bit hard to believe-" That was how Ed chose to start his explanation but was immediately cut off by Vorgarag.
"You literally came back to life" Vorgarag said unamused.
'Yeah he is right' Ed cleared his throat and started again.
"I came from a place full of undead beings. It was a dark and scary place, completely unlike this one." It sounded like the start of an epic. Regardless, that was not Ed's goal.
"I couldn't remember much about myself other than my name. It was a very scary experience." Ed then explained his encounter with the magician and how he found himself to be immortal, not directly mentioning the existence of the dungeon.
Vorgarag listened attentively as Ed told his tale. He would be lying if he said he wasn't skeptical but the proof was right in front of him.
Ed told him about how he repeated those encounters whilst slowly growing stronger. There were many instances in which Ed seemed to have been incredibly lucky Vorgarag found.
Ed proceeded to explain the details of his transmigration, how he miserably died and upon waking up he found himself in an entirely new location. Ed didn't forget to add his own conjectures, casually dissing the dungeon.
Vorgarag wasn't sure if Ed intended to convince him by using his distrust of god but in the end, he couldn't help but start to empathize with him. He couldn't discern what was the truth or if Ed was leaving out any details but he knew for a fact that the things that had happened to Ed were in line with what he believed god's personality was like.
"The truth is, the main reason why I am always so eager to grow stronger is due to the imminent danger. I first came here to achieve what was my only goal, self-preservation. Eventually however I found myself bonding with the tribe. That was what made me sacrifice myself, I knew that I could return while the tribe couldn't." It was a fairly emotional speech. Ed's eloquent words managed to convince the torn Vorgarag.
[<Eloquence lvl. 1> Acquired]
Yeah, the situation was completely illogical. Sure the things he said were very hard to believe. But it was undoubtedly true that Ed had no reason to sacrifice himself. So regardless of what the reason might have been, Vorgarag found himself trusting in Ed once again.
Of course, that only meant that their relationship would at the least continue as usual. Although he would seek some form of compensation one way or another. All things considered, testing out a space array with the purpose of escaping was pretty dangerous. But maaaybe... Ed could give it a try instead.
Ed was simply happy that Vorgarag seemed to have left the subject at that. He even ended up getting the Eloquence skill from it. How useful it would be was beyond him but since there were no real penalties the more the merrier.
With that disaster out of the way, Ed decided it was time to get back on track. Having told Vorgarag his story he was sure that he would be able to understand the importance of growing stronger and just overall bolstering their defenses.
"Vorgarag, I need to see Murbol" There was no need to spare her, he would put her consciousness to good use.
Ed found that Murbol's strength wasn't very significant either, although his view might have become skewed given that he had beat her so simply. She was a chieftess, her strength was at the very least greater than your average orc.
Vorgarag whose thoughts had shifted towards figuring out a plan against the humans as Ed had called them was then snapped out of his thoughts. He was reminded that they had kept Murbol captive. They definitely needed to do something about it. They were not willing to waste any resources on her, especially food.
"What are you planning to do?" Vorgarag couldn't help but doubtfully ask. For some reason he doubted that the matter was as simple as finishing off loose ends.
"You want to be prepared for the assault of the humans right? I need her to ensure our safety." Indeed, Ed didn't intend to kill her for revenge or the like. Then did he plan to set her free on the condition that she were to help?
Shel for some reason shook on the bedding uncomfortably almost in reaction to Ed's words. Ed and Vorgarag sent her a quick glance before ignoring her and getting back on topic.
"How do you plan to convince her? She is a tough woman" Vorgarag asked unsurely. As a tribal leader, he was well aware of how stubborn orc woman could be. From his few interactions with Murbol, he also knew she was especially haughty.
"Don't worry about that, I don't need to convince her" Replied Ed without an ounce of doubt.. He wore a confident smile as he said so.