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Translator: uly
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: I Was Supposed to Be Possessed But I Possessed Instead (3)
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"Should I save this thing?"
"Chwiik!!!"
Unexpectedly, the height of the cliff and the tree branch the orc was hanging from wasn't that great.
If he stretched out his arms, his fingertips could almost reach it.
For an orc, famous for its strength, this should be easy to climb up, right?
As if answering my curiosity, the orc ghost clinging nearby pointed to one of its arms.
The wound looked like it had been bitten by something, with chunks of flesh torn out unevenly, making it seem impossible to move.
"If I'd left it there, it would've died a dog's death."
One arm unusable, the other holding onto the branch—no room to move.
Its feet were barely clinging to the cliff face, but the moment it let go, it'd plummet below.
"Should I save it?"
The situation was pitiful, but an orc was still a monster.
For all I knew, if I saved it, it might lunge at me to eat me.
- ...
A pathetic expression floated across the face of the orc ghost beside me.
Even monsters had feelings?
"Tch..."
As I hesitated, an urgent voice came from the bottom of the cliff.
"Chwiik!! Human!! Orcs repay favors! Chwiik!!!"
"Repay the favor?"
"Yes! Chwiik!!"
An orc that repays favors?
It sounded like something out of a fantasy folktale.
"How're you gonna repay it?"
- ...
Even I couldn't think of anything an orc could do for a human.
"Chwiik!! I'll repay it somehow! Orcs never forget favors!!"
I squinted, pondering, but it still seemed insanely risky.
Chris's memories as a hunter were intact, but I hadn't experienced any real combat yet.
A hunter fighting an orc didn't make sense to begin with.
If that young orc pup backstabbed me, my body would be in danger.
"Bullshit. What favor can a monster pup repay?"
"Chwiik! Orcs know honor!"
"Yeah, sure. Know it real well."
Getting munched by an orc right after possessing this world? Pass.
Ghosts I could handle somehow, but a live monster was a different story.
The moment I stood up, the orc ghost slithered right in front of me.
- %&*@#
"Tch..."
Know what's the hardest part about becoming a shaman?
It's empathizing with ghosts' emotions.
So deeply that you can't tell if it's your feelings or theirs.
"Haah... It's all my damn fate..."
Was a shaman's fate ever an easy one?
My life had always been one long hardship.
I leaned my chest over the cliff edge and stretched out both hands.
"Chwiik?!"
Not enough—I crawled forward until I could barely grasp the orc's wrist with both hands.
Now I just had to pull it up with all my strength.
The problem was that the orc had to let go of the branch during the pull-up.
I could sense it hesitating to entrust its life fully to me.
This bastard, don't tell me?
"Hey, you don't trust me?"
"Chwiik! How can an orc trust a human? Chwiik!!"
Should I just let go?
I'd barely decided to save it, and its attitude was pissing me off.
"Then screw it, fall."
"Chwiik... I trust you!"
"Didn't you just say you didn't?"
"...Chwiik! I trust you unconditionally!"
I hauled the orc up with all my might as it slowly released the branch.
It was disgustingly heavy, but this body must've had the muscle for it.
The orc came up easier than expected.
"Hoo..."
The orc, saved from the brink of death, panted roughly as it stared at me.
"Chwiik!! Thanks! Chwiik!"
The young orc stood catching its breath, then suddenly started sniffing.
"Hm?"
What the hell was it doing now?
Was it losing its mind from nearly dying? As I seriously wondered, the young orc followed the scent.
"Warrior's soul! Chwiik!!"
"Uh?"
Surprisingly, the young orc stopped right in front of the orc ghost.
"You can see it?"
"Chwiik? Human, you can see souls?"
"Huh?"
No matter how I looked, the orc didn't seem to have Spiritual Eyes.
Probably couldn't see it.
Its senses were just sensitive, maybe.
"Chwiik! A warrior's soul has a scent!"
Correction.
It had a sensitive nose.
Did orcs normally detect ghosts by smell?
"Hmm."
The dead orc and live orc were both acting strangely.
I never expected the orc ghost's eyes to look that warm.
"Chwiik!"
Sniff sniff.
The orc flared its nostrils again, sniffing, then spoke.
"Brother's scent! Is that soul there my brother?"
The young orc looked at me.
Probably asking for confirmation.
"It says yes. Your brother?"
"Chwiik! I've got over ten dead brothers!"
"Big family."
"Chwiik! Weak orcs die! I'm strong!"
"You almost died too."
"Almost got weak! Chwiik! But I lived, so I'm strong!"
The young orc finished speaking to me, then muttered softly toward empty air.
"Dead brother, weak!"
- ...
"Weak brother! You're free to go now! Chwiik!"
- $#%@#$
I'd never heard an orc curse, but that was definitely cursing from the orc soul.
"Jeez..."
After that little show, my body felt even heavier.
And this was the body that got struck by lightning, right?
It should be lying in a hospital bed normally.
I spoke to the bickering pair.
"I'm heading out now."
The young orc faced me and thumped its chest twice.
"Chwiik! My name is Gullak. Heir to the great shaman."
"Shaman?"
"Orc shamans converse with warrior souls."
Seemed shamans existed in this world too.
Probably in a different form.
"Chwiik! Someday I'll repay the favor! Human, what's your name?"
"..."
I almost said my name without thinking, then stopped.
The name I had to say now was different.
"Chris."
"Chris! Honor to the human shaman's future! Chwiik!"
It felt better than expected.
Less like a monster, more like another race.
At least I could expect a solid offering fee for the help.
"Wait... offering fee?"
The payment received after a divination.
Divining fortune and misfortune, good and bad.
Things ordinary people can't know.
Revealing them is leaking heavenly secrets.
The offering fee compensates for that leak.
This was my first act as a proper shaman, and ending without a reading felt empty.
"Hey! Hold up a sec."
"Chwiik?"
I grabbed the rattle hanging from my waist with my right hand.
"Hmm..."
Ting-
Ting-
It wasn't some eerie clash of various bells.
A single, clear ring.
As the rattle chimed, my mind sank deeper into the depths.
To the point where I couldn't tell if I was me or something else.
Ting-
All senses calmed.
The wind brushing skin, the shapes in view.
All human sensations sharpened, then transcended into others.
Gullak's surrounding karma became vividly clear.
Clarity on another level from anything I'd seen before.
Ting-
The rattle rang, and my mouth opened on its own.
Not me speaking—something borrowing my body.
"Young one, you bear heavy karma." Ting-
"Your path is long."
Ting-
"Bearing wandering ownerless souls, follow heaven's mandate."
The rattle's sound echoed deeply around us.
"The lost will gather, and the wayward will find their path."
A clear direction appeared before my eyes.
No, not with eyes.
It was truly 'seeing direction'—nothing else described it.
The rattle pointed firmly in one direction.
Ting-
"Go. You'll avoid calamity and find your way."
With those short words, my mind snapped back.
"Ah..."
"..."
- ....
Gullak and I stared blankly.
The nameless orc soul lay flat on the ground, trembling.
Just prostrating before an overwhelming presence.
"Ch..chwiik! Great shaman!"
Gullak's voice fully snapped me out of the lingering afterglow.
"Haa... Fucking exhausting..."
For a first time, it was tough.
Probably because this orc Gullak had a big fate ahead.
Now that I'd done the divination, it was really time to go home.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A small orc stood atop the high cliff.
Gullak, heir to the orc shaman.
The face of this young orc, not yet an adult, stared vacantly into the air.
Was what he saw today the form of a shaman to pass down to the tribe?
Gullak's eyes, having witnessed a great soul, turned toward where the rattle had pointed.
- Go.
The voice echoed in his head like it was etched there.
It had to be guidance from the legendary great soul.
"Chwiik! I'll follow the guidance."
As Gullak moved like he was entranced, he suddenly realized.
There was a cliff right in front of him.
"Ch...chwiik!!!"
Beside Gullak, who nearly fell again, an invisible soul spat curses.
- &$#@$!!!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
That was probably the last thing I'd read recently.
A novel where you possess a wastrel noble in some family.
The protagonist woke up in his own bed.
It definitely said so.
He rose from a soft, fluffy bed.
"Haa... but why me!!"
The bed was too hard.
Was this even a bed?
A wooden plank with a blanket thrown over it?
My house was simpler than imagined.
Simple to the point of poverty.
A wooden shack.
A rickety structure that could collapse anytime.
Furniture that barely qualified as woodwork.
No food in the house, either.
Because today's hunt had been empty-handed.
"Why do I have to worry about food first?"
After trekking from the mountains, my stomach was practically glued to my back.
To make matters worse, arriving late at night meant no easy way to forage.
And above all, no money.
My first night in this possessed world passed starving like that.