Re:Crafting in Another World
Chapter 91: Orc XIV - Return of Ka’ra

Chapter 91: Orc XIV - Return of Ka’ra

The orcs erupted in shouts, some blaming Ka’ra for bringing the curse while others blamed Ukar for embracing the flame that was supposed to be curse.

The captives, forgotten for the moment, huddled together, their chains clinking. Ukar’s fists clenched, his mind racing. He had suspected this might happen. He had hoped it might turn out to be a blessing, but now that he had been proven wrong, he didn’t know what to do.

Would the humans come to attack them after the raid on the human town? Could they build something to protect themselves from the humans’ rage? If the fire was a curse, why had it come here in the first place?

"We’ll fix it," Ukar said, his voice low but firm. "We’ll feed the fire. More wood, more offerings. The spirits’ll come back."

But before anyone could respond, a figure emerged from the forest, stepping into the shadow of the hiding sun. The orcs turned, their weapons raised, but their hands faltered as they saw her. It was Ka’ra, one of their own, their previous leader thought died to a spirit. Her left hand was gone, the stump wrapped in something that looked like high quality cotton, but her eyes burned with a fire fiercer than the one that had once protected the village. Her stride was steady, her posture radiating confidence, as if she had seen something beyond mortal ken.

"Ka’ra?" Ukar said, his voice laced with disbelief. "You live?"

"I do," she replied, her voice calm but commanding. "And I’ve seen the truth."

The orcs murmured, their fear giving way to curiosity. Even old crone lowered her hands, her gaze fixed on Ka’ra as if she is watching at the salvation of their race. The humans, too, watched, sensing a shift in the air not knowing what was going on.

"What truth?" Gorzod demanded, his tone wary.

Ka’ra smiled, a cold, knowing smile that sent a shiver through the warband. "The spirits didn’t abandon us," she said. "They tested us. And you failed. But I... I’ve seen their power. Absolute, unbroken power. The kind that doesn’t flicker or fade."

Ukar narrowed his eyes. "Speak plain, Ka’ra. What’re you sayin’?"

"I’m sayin’ the fire was never our strength nor curse," she said, stepping closer. "It was an invitation. I talked with spirits and they wants us to follow them into a different forest. I don’t care about your opinion. We will move to that forest and anyone who disagree with me can die here like pigs they are."

"She was aggressive because she understood, with just one look at the group, that Ukar had taken power instead of her. She also noticed the conspicuous absence of her own subordinates and several orcs she had been rather close with. For now, she wanted to deliver the message and satisfy Shennong, but she knew she would have to find out what was going on here.

Ukar was not fond of this turn of events, so instead of listening to Ka’ra, he quickly started to turn everything against her hoping the orcs would be on his side. "I knew it. The wall of flame vanished because this idiot returned without sacrificing herself for our safety. She brought this curse upon us and when we sacrificed her to turn this into our strength she came here without doing her duty as the leader of our tribe,"

Ka’ra sighed since she expected Ukar to act like this. She was done with it. She didn’t really care about protecting the son of Thromgar. She wanted to quickly get her own tribe to moonlight forest and see what this evolution Shennong was talking about.

Can this be called betrayal to her own race and tribe? Ka’ra thought for a moment and she knew in a way yes it was but at the end she is doing everything for their own good and that along was enough for her tobottle up the feeling of the guilt and also knowing she would get to work with Shennong, she felt rather happy.

"When did i start to like that human? Well, I guess it’s not my fault after everything I witnessed their," ka’ra thought but suddenly Ukar’s suborindate Gorzord came forward with aggressive nature trying to attack Ka’ra knowing she would be weak since she is missing one of her hands.

"You think you can come back from the dead and give orders?!" Gorzord shouted, his tusks glinting in the firelight, his massive hand gripping a crude cleaver. "You abandoned us! You left us to burn! You’re no leader—you’re just a broken shell of what you once were!"

He charged.

"Gorzord, stop!" Ukar barked, but whether it was a command or encouragement was unclear.

Ka’ra braced herself. Her one remaining hand shifted instinctively to the hilt of her curved dagger. Her body was tense, prepared for pain. She wasn’t what she used to be—but she would fight. If she had to bleed, she would bleed for her cause.

Gorzord came within two meters, blade raised—

Then everything changed.

There was a snap. Not a loud one. Not a crash or roar, just a crisp, clean snap like a twig breaking in silence.

And then Gorzord stopped.

Mid-stride. Mouth agape.

The orcs froze.

Ka’ra’s eyes narrowed, confused—then widened in horror.

Gorzord’s head slipped from his shoulders as if unhooked by an invisible blade and rolled onto the dirt with a soft thud. His massive body stood for a heartbeat longer, swaying, before crumpling in a heavy heap of limbs and lifeless steel.

A few orcs screamed. Others dropped their weapons and stumbled back.

Even Ukar staggered. "What in the...?"

Ka’ra’s breath caught in her throat. The wind carried a scent to her—soft, earthy, ancient. Her eyes scanned the treeline. No movement. No shadow.

But she knew.

A smile pulled at the corner of her lips, faint and weary. So... he didn’t send me back alone after all...

She sighed.

Of course Shennong would watch. Of course he would intervene if it meant protecting his own mission that he gave her. Her fluttering heart betrayed her just a little, and her grip on her dagger loosened.

She hadn’t felt protected like this since Thromgar—her old mentor, the previous chieftain—who had treated her like a daughter, not a warrior. But this... this was different.

"When did I start to like that human?" she wondered, chewing the inside of her cheek. "Well... after everything I witnessed there... maybe it was inevitable."

She stepped forward, standing beside Gorzord’s corpse. The blood still pooled beneath the severed head, its face frozen in confusion and rage.

"You all saw it," Ka’ra said, her voice echoing like thunder. "You saw what happened to a warrior who dared to challenge the spirits’ will. You think that was me? I’m missing a hand, and yet his head hit the ground before he took another step."

The orcs stared in silence, breath caught, eyes wide.

Ka’ra turned slowly, her gaze raking across the warband. "You think I came back for vengeance? For power?" Her voice rose. "I came back because the spirits allowed me to return. Because they showed me the truth. Because I found something beyond this cursed land."

She stabbed her finger toward the treeline. "Beyond this forest, in the heart of the Moonlight Grove, lies our safe haven. Glory. Power like you’ve never imagined. But we must go. We must leave this place behind."

The old crone stepped forward, her voice a whisper. "Maybe the old spirits be with our leader. We shall follow her,"

Meanwhile, news of the orc attack reached the capital of Sturgon within hours, carried by the few survivors who had managed to flee the ruined town. Though the attack had occurred in Count Mabol’s territory, Percival Barony wasn’t far off—and Cassandra was among the first to hear the grim tidings.

Without hesitation, she turned to Shennong for aid—the man who, despite having no official title, had become the de facto baron of her lands.

Shennong instantly knew which tribe was responsible. A cruel smile curled on his lips as he gazed at Cassandra, his thoughts drifting back to a recent conversation with Yenissa.

"You know... Cassandra won’t like what you’re doing," Yenissa had murmured, her tone casual, almost indifferent. "It doesn’t matter to me, but I know you care about her... so I’d rather not have to kill her if she scolds you."

Spoken as if it were the most mundane possibility in the world. Yet Shennong had only smiled when he heard it.

Cassandra doesn’t need to know that Ka’ra is one of them.

I have other plans for those orcs—more than just dumping them in my forest. One of them is going into the Mutator.

The mention of that word had snapped Yenissa’s mind back to that bizarre contraption Shennong had built. She still didn’t know what it did—but she remembered the wild gleam in his eyes as he worked on it, like a man possessed.

"Well, whatever you wish, darling," she had said then.

Now, standing before Cassandra, Shennong wore that same calm mask, and his words came as no surprise to her.

"Let’s gather our men," he said solemnly. "We can’t allow those orcs to threaten your territory any further."