Yuri held the red gem in his hand.
He had assumed it wasn't an ordinary item, given its effect of driving orcs into madness, but he never imagined it would be related to this ruin.
As the gem flickered, the light within it also grew brighter.
Yuri could now see the scenery of the room he had reached more clearly.
Human remains, just like the ones seen outside, came into view.
They all appeared to have taken their own lives.
And in the middle of the pile of corpses stood something like a staff, with a mana stone embedded in it.
Gradually, the gem began to radiate a stronger light.
Yuri couldn't tell whether he was moving on his own, or if the staff was drawing him toward it.
Clutching the red gem, Yuri placed his other hand atop the mana stone embedded in the staff.
Then, his vision turned white.
Something began to appear.
At first, it was a deep blue sky, and then an endlessly stretching grassland.
Yuri soon realized that he was seeing all these scenes through someone else's eyes.
***
The memory within the staff was old, its color faded.
There were many parts that were hard to understand, patched together forcibly where the seams had torn, but he could grasp the overall flow.
This structure had once been a sanctuary for hunters.
They stayed here, eliminating harmful creatures under the king's orders.
Orcs.
The owner of this memory had earned the title of hunter in the kingdom and had come all the way to the edge of the grasslands. There, he was trained by his master.
They relentlessly hunted orcs.
But the orcs hardly ever dwindled in number. When hunters appeared, they immediately fled, and with their stubborn vitality, they somehow managed to increase their numbers.
So, the hunters used enchanted artifacts.
The memory's owner received one from his master.
"This is the symbol of an orc hunter."
What he held was the same red gem necklace Yuri now possessed.
All the hunters carried one.
"It lures the orcs."
Yuri now understood that the red gem was a tool once used by the ancient grassland hunters.
"Disgusting, pitiful creatures."
His master always said that.
"Show no mercy. Death is the only salvation you can give them."
They hunted orcs with swords, with bows, and sometimes with enchanted weapons. Adult or child, if it was an orc, they killed it.
He had doubts.
"Why do orcs hate humans?"
The master didn't answer.
Eventually, the owner of the memory became a proper hunter. And his aging master, it was time for him to retire.
When the time came, the master passed on his final knowledge to his disciple.
That night, they had slaughtered a group of orcs and were warming themselves by a fire amidst the corpses.
"Do you know how orcs came to be?"
"Pardon?"
It was a question he had never thought about.
"Didn't they come from the far east and push their way into the grasslands?"
"No."
The master began to tell an old tale.
"There was a noble who delighted in murder. He enjoyed releasing slaves and hunting them. When the king heard of it, he outlawed the slaughter, and the noble fell into despair. That's when a mage approached him with an offer."
That mage taught the noble a dark spell that allowed him to indulge in killing to his heart's content. He created beings that were human, yet not human.
"That dark, filthy magic corrupted humans."
The memory's owner was shocked.
"You mean, they're…"
With faded eyes, the master looked at his disciple and spoke.
"Orcs are humans, corrupted by black magic."
The noble had used humans to create orcs. He gave them monstrous appearances fit to be hunted, and altered them for rapid breeding so their numbers could grow.
In the orc pens built within his estate, the prey was continuously bred and supplied.
"They were human, but not. That's why no one could blame the noble. In fact, quite the opposite. Those unaware of the orcs' true nature praised his achievements, thinking he had rid the world of terrible beasts."
But the truth was revealed.
The noble was executed, and the mage who had turned humans into orcs vanished without a trace.
In the chaos, the orcs that escaped from the pens formed packs beyond the kingdom's borders, out in the grasslands.
Thus, the monsters created by humans, came to hate humans, and became cursed raiders who fed on their flesh.
"That magic no longer exists, but orcs began to breed on their own. Now their numbers have grown beyond control. Orcs are a race of humans, altered by black magic."
"Black magic…"
The memory's owner trembled.
In the ancient grassland kingdom, black magic seemed to be a thing of terror.
"That's why, when they see an untainted human, they instinctively feel hatred and display intense aggression. Whether it's just their nature, or jealousy, no one knows."
"In the end, we've been killing beings that were originally human."
The master smiled, faint wrinkles forming around his mouth.
"It's not murder. It's salvation. Sending those cursed by black magic to rest is our duty."
The human sacrifices mentioned by Moyong Chan, the black power of the orc shamans, and the black magic Ragna had spoken of, all tangled together in Yuri's mind.
Perhaps, it was all connected to the tragedy of his past life.
The memory continued.
The master was gone, and the memory's owner kept hunting orcs.
Now, he was the leader of the hunters.
Many years passed, but no matter how many orcs they killed, their numbers never dwindled.
Sometimes, the orcs would form bands and directly attack the kingdom's borders. Whenever that happened, the kingdom would send troops, but they never made much difference.
Then, the tragedy began.
A mysterious accident caused a catastrophe to befall the kingdom.
As the kingdom faltered, the orcs grew bolder.
The hunters' sanctuary, cut off from support, was also endangered.
The orcs had no intention of leaving the hunters alone. They would torture and humiliate them until they begged to be killed.
The kingdom fell, and the hunters were surrounded by orcs.
A mage staying with the hunters made a suggestion.
"I'll seal this place with magic. Completely isolate it until help arrives."
"Will that work?"
"It'll take time, but…"
Would help really come?
But they couldn't just give up.
The orcs were already attacking the building. The door burst open, and orcs poured in.
"I'll buy time."
The memory's owner took up his sword and stepped outside the iron gate.
And he blocked the entrance.
"Salvation."
His master had called their mission salvation.
Now, the memory's owner believed those words, too.
He held his sword and stared down the hideous monsters charging at him.
Beings twisted by a curse, who felt an instinctive hatred toward humans and craved their flesh—another form of human.
"May you be saved, one day."
He gave his life to buy time.
After killing countless orcs, he leaned against the wall and met his end.
And so, his vision faded to black.
...
Then, someone's face reappeared.
It was the mage who had sealed the iron gate.
His face was gaunt.
"No one came. Outside is still full of orcs. We've decided to die here."
He spoke.
"We may have used the wrong means, but we chose to preserve the memory of the greatest hunter in history. Should someone see this someday, may our deaths not be in vain. May those cursed creatures be utterly slaughtered from this land. And…"
He gave his final testament.
It was a rather unexpected statement.
"Beware the Devil's Grimoire."
***
Yuri woke up.
His head throbbed.
He lowered his head and took a moment to catch his breath.
It wasn't just the strain of receiving someone else's memories. A dark energy had settled in his mind.
But from his core, the energy of heart-soul slash began to rise, pushing out the evil force.
Only after wandering for quite a while did his mind finally clear.
"Goddamn it…"
It was no ordinary magic.
Yuri could tell that this magic, which stored the memories of the dead, also belonged to the realm of black magic.
Was black magic really that common in the ancient grassland kingdom?
Yuri looked down at the red gem he held in his hand. Its true identity was now revealed to be an ancient hunting tool.
After carefully storing it away once more, Yuri lifted his hand from the mana stone of the staff.
At that moment, the mana stone attached to the end shattered.
The mana stone scattered into powder, and the staff that had been standing atop the pile of corpses toppled over.
The magical energy that had filled the underground space completely vanished.
Soon after, a faint voice was heard.
"Prrrrinceeeeee..."
It must have been a magic that allowed only the bearer of the red gem to enter.
Now that the magic had faded, the magical seal seemed to have disappeared as well.
Yuri walked to the entrance and pulled the door handle.
The door opened easily.
Laurent's face appeared.
"Huh?"
"You're out!"
"Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine."
Yuri swung the door wide open. Then, the rest of the knight order came into view.
They peered into the underground interior.
"There are corpses inside too…"
"Looks like they hid to escape the orcs, but all died in the end."
"I see."
Laurent looked down at the human remains collapsed on the ground.
"Then it must have been this person who held off the orcs to the end, alone."
"Seems that way."
Yuri silently gazed at the corpse sitting slumped in front of the iron door.
The mage had called him the greatest hunter in history.
Yet in the hunter's own memories, he had thought of himself as nothing more than an ordinary hunter.
As he looked down at the remains of a man who didn't even know how great he was, Yuri picked up the rusty sword that had fallen to the ground and returned it to his arms.
"This must've been a structure of the ancient grassland kingdom. Looks like it ended up like this after being attacked by orcs."
After circling the interior with the knight order and confirming there was nothing else, Yuri came back outside.
Just then, the Allied Army was approaching the area.
Ragna appeared, leading a company of knights clad in black armor.
He grinned and asked Yuri,
"How was it?"
"Just a ruin."
Yuri made no mention of the memory he had witnessed.
"Looks like ruins left behind by the ancient grassland kingdom. Everyone died because of the orcs."
"Orcs, whether past or present, always a problem. How did such things come to be born into this world…"
"Indeed."
Ragna clicked his tongue.
"We're avenging their grudge on behalf of them, I suppose."
"And saving the people who might suffer in the future too."
"Right, that too."
Ragna chuckled.
***
Ragna gave the order to camp for the night next to the ruins.
The Allied Army pitched tents and set up guards to protect their supplies.
Dusk began to fall.
Yuri was sitting in the Briol camp, having dinner. His close aides sat around him.
"How strong do you think Okua is?"
"Must be unbelievably strong."
"But we have Sir Moyong Chan with us…"
Jared, thanks to Moyong Chan's presence, seemed to be a bit too relaxed.
"You never know. Okua is skilled enough to command those vicious orcs. I think it's safe to say he's close to the level of the Ten Strong."
Raymond interjected.
Yuri was a little surprised. He hadn't expected Raymond to be this wary of Okua.
"Come on, it's just an orc. You think he's as strong as the Ten Strong?"
"That's what I think."
"Are you serious?"
"Orcs are not fools."
"Yes, they're cowardly and devious."
"And yet those orcs keep charging at us, knowing they'll die."
"You mean to say…"
"That Okua holds that much absolute power."
"That does make sense."
"The reason orcs were never unified before was because of their very nature. But for someone to instill enough fear to suppress that… it means he's incredibly strong."
"Now that you put it that way…"
Yuri nodded and spoke.
"I agree with Raymond."
"Really?"
Of course, that was because of the information he had from his past life, but the conclusion was the same as Raymond's.
Okua was the monster who personally killed Moyong Chan and rose to become one of the Ten Strong. Even at the time of Yuri's death, Okua still reigned as the terror of the grasslands.
"So everyone, stay alert."
Just then, the sound of a bell echoed.
It was an alarm they had grown used to hearing once or twice a day.
The knights reflexively put down their trays and stood up.
It was an orc raid.
"The bell's louder than usual today."
"Jared, haven't you memorized the alarm signals?"
"What?"
"This rhythm means a large number of enemies."
"Ah, y-yes, of course I know that."
Yuri drew Guilty.
The rhythm of the bell indicated the number of enemies and the urgency of the situation. The way it was ringing now meant the situation was bad.
"Let's go."
Yuri immediately walked out.
As he activated the mana method, he sensed the presence of orcs.
Suddenly, memories overlapped.
The ancient orc hunter had been sent to the grasslands for the sole purpose of killing orcs.
They knew much about the orcs. One could say they were seasoned butchers.
Yuri found himself instinctively mimicking the same gait the hunter had used when approaching to kill orcs.
It felt strange.
"Something…"
It was as if some long-forgotten memory buried deep in his subconscious had begun to surface.
"So that's what it was."
The mage hadn't left the hunter's memory in the staff just to show the past.
He had passed on the hunter's killing techniques to the one who discovered it.
Yuri felt the ancient hunter's swordsmanship, and the magic he experienced through the memory, merging within him.
But he wasn't confused.
The memory that had come to him was calm and cooperative.
Yuri spoke to a soldier fighting an orc.
"I'll handle it, fall back."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The soldier fled.
The orc tried to chase him, but Yuri blocked its path. The orc bared its teeth and raised its axe.
Yuri lowered his stance.
He could see it.
How the orc would move, and how he needed to respond, it all appeared to him as if he were seeing the future.
With a brief exchange, the orc's head flew into the air.
It was easy.
Yuri curled his lips into a smile.
"Living a good life finally pays off."
At least when it came to killing orcs, he had now become the most seasoned expert.
Yuri silently paid his respects to the greatest orc hunter of ancient times.