"Ed!!! Did you find anything?!!!" Vorgarag loudly yelled. The distance made it quite hard for his message to get across but Ed still knew what Vorgarag was probably asking.
He decided that rather than screaming his lungs out to reply, he was better off going over now that the deed was done.
'Maybe I should move the boulder closer regardless' You could bet that Ed would come back for the two other missing areas. There was no reason not to, right? If they included spells even half as deadly and cool as the meteor rain spell then it would be worth every trip.
Having made up his mind, Ed controlled the ground to shift the boulder closer to the entrance, Blurak didn't do anything as following the pain he ended up falling asleep.
Ed walked calmly with the boulder in tow. It took a good minute for him to make it to the entrance. Vorgarag was sitting by the cavern wall, he probably had his own things to think about. Vorgarag looked up after feeling soft vibrations coming from the ground, he wasn't looking towards Ed but rather at the boulder he patiently escorted.
"You brought it with you." He said to Ed somewhat in disbelief. Walking so nonchalantly with a boulder in tow wasn't so easy. A lot of mages would stand still when casting or manipulating elements since it was much easier to concentrate.
The main issue wasn't that Ed managed to do it, he had seen him cast in battle before even if it was just from the corner of his vision, it was the seamless way he did it. When did Ed become so adept at controlling the earth?
"Yeah, want to take a look?" He said as he pointed back at the large boulder somewhat proud of himself. He was helping Vorgarag accomplish one of his great desires after all.
Vorgarag touched the carvings on the stones, he was currently facing the hieroglyphs closely inspecting it. Taking in every single detail.
"This is great…" He muttered to himself in awe.
The drawings weren't the best but Vorgarag could understand them. There were goblins, some plants, obviously orcs. It probably told the story of the place they live in, its ecosystem.
He continued to carefully examine them for a good minute after making these observations. Ed simply waited for a bit somewhat impatiently. He was itching to test his Alchemy skill even if it was only at a negative level right now.
"Are you going to take a look at the back?" Ed asked seeing Vorgarag so immersed in the hieroglyphs alone.
"I can't read" He nonchalantly replied. Ed was left agape. Is that something you can throw out there so easily? What about the arrays he wrote???
After thinking about it a bit Ed realized that the only reason why Ed was so hesitant to tell the lich he couldn't read was because knowing how to read was a normal part of growing up in human society.
For orcs, apart from the shamans, nobody else was even qualified to learn to read. Maybe with enough effort they could learn but it wouldn't come easy. On the other hand, since there were no things like signs in their society the shamans only needed to teach the runic language to their disciples. This was probably done to save time.
The only inalienable right in this place was death.
Vorgarag's teacher died before he could pass on all of his knowledge for example. It only took a couple of generations of this occurrence for many spells and the like to be lost. Passing on something as useless as reading was, in that case, a pipe dream, what would be the point?
They had nothing to write on and even if they did, nobody apart from their disciples would be able to read it. This on its own was alright as this boulder of knowledge clearly showed but not everybody that came after them was necessarily smart enough to think of this.
'Those ancestors should have made it a tradition to carve new knowledge in a more accessible location' Ed was puzzled by their choice to write this down in the deep forest and not thinking about whether the next generations would even be able to read it if they were to ever find it.
To add insult to injury, anybody apart from him would be eaten by an ogre by stepping foot in this place! That alone made it unlikely that the ancestors placed it here unless...
'Blurak wasn't here' That would be the only explanation.
The ancestors had a headstart on this location. They got a boulder from somewhere and placed it in the boss room which may have, at the time, been empty. Blurak could have spawned later and used the boulder as a pillow. Dissatisfied with the boulder, it pushed it to the back of the room.
'I don't know why I am inclined to believe this' Using a rock as a pillow was a ludicrous thought. Blurak was a bit of a blockhead though so it was plausible...
"Let's go, you got what you wanted right?" Vorgarag said after turning away from the boulder which was now located next to the entrance.
"Sure" Ed said simply although he felt Vorgarag's words contained a tinge of estrangement. He couldn't help but feel slightly worried. He was well aware that this encounter would be the cause of some suspicion with Blurak loudly screaming CHAAAMPPIIIOOON!!!
'Maybe I should just go out and say it then…' While he doubted Vorgarag would ever act against him, it didn't feel good to have someone doubt you.
Vorgarag started walking away with his usual elegance and Ed couldn't help but frown.
Especially not when you are working for their sake.
'Although I am also working for my own survival' He would love to claim that he was doing for the tribe but this excuse was nothing more than emotional support.
"Hey Vorgarag" Ed casually called. Vorgarag stopped his advance and turned around with a bit of confusion, he raised an eyebrow after being called out.
"That hurts." Ed wasn't good at expressing himself to others so this was the most straightforward way he could get his message across and test the waters.
"What does?" Asked Vorgarag feigning ignorance. Ed's frown became more pronounced after hearing this response.
"You can't trust me then?" Ed said hiding his pain.
Ah, maybe he made a mistake. He thought that not getting close to the skeletons was a good idea after being taught a painful lesson. Seeing how human-like the orcs were he threw this lesson to the back of his mind.
"That's not it" Vorgarag also said with a frown. Clearly Ed didn't intend to let this go.
"Am I not your disciple after all? Did saving you mean nothing? Or maybe you think immortality doesn't come with a price." Ed fired on all cylinders. He didn't intend to create too much drama, he just wanted to not have to deal with this in the future.
His immortality didn't come with an obvious disadvantage. Sure he didn't lose his mind with each death, his skills don't deteriorate either. But there was a loneliness that came with it. There was the dungeon that came with it. Ed didn't know how he died but if he could choose between here and simply remaining dead he would choose the latter.
Now that he was here he would make the most of it but it wasn't a gift. That was the point he wanted others to understand.
Vorgarag, on the other hand, was forced to think back on when he first officially took him in as a disciple. The first thing he felt after seeing his great potential was jealousy. He wasn't a good individual.
He was overcome by grief upon seeing Ed sacrifice himself for him. He wanted him back, another chance to do things differently but once he returned his heart was instead filled with suspicion.
Ed had done lots of things for him and the settlement up to that point even when you consider his short stay and his status as an outsider.
"Damn it…" Vorgarag mumbled. He covered his face with one hand and looked away. He was embarrassing.
A still silence was what followed. Ed simply stood there waiting for Vorgarag to regain his bearings, by the look of things it all worked out.
"Let's go. We need to make sure we have a good area for the herbs by the time the others get here." Ed said as he started to leave the area.
"You are right." Vorgarag replied. He didn't apologize. Ed's words clearly indicated he was already forgiven, he therefore found it unnecessary.
Vorgarag and Ed headed back to the outside as if nothing happened. Their friendship was definitely strengthened by this. Vorgarag definitely wouldn't find himself wavering so much in the future.
On their way out, they both secretly admired the mana crystals a second time and Ed even nabbed a couple of them. It would be dumb of him not to.. He also wanted to create a flamethrower spell, that was a really cool moment.