Chapter 54: Return and the Camp (1)

A great battle ended amidst smoke and blood. In just half a day, tens of thousands of orcs, who had initially been beyond human resistance and could only defend themselves with fortresses, lost two-thirds of their forces. Only over two thousand elite warriors remained to protect their leader and shamans as they fled westward.
Most of the other orcs were scattered and hunted down by the human army. With less than a thousand survivors, they hid in the forests, posing no threat to the garrison at the Holy Sword Fortress.
The greatest contributor to this war was undoubtedly the genius summoner Donald, who single-handedly turned the tide of battle!
However, while the human army slaughtered the orcs, Donald, who had once been so powerful, slowed down. He let his summoned creatures attack freely to assist the army in encircling the orcs, deploying only a few to protect himself. At the same time, he asked Uther and Clinton to guard Eric as he went into battle, allowing his young servant to kill a few orcs to gain some experience.
“Hah! Kill them…”
While Eric targeted an enemy and engaged in combat, Donald moved steadily behind the third battalion of the Holy Sword Legion, the strongest force in the human coalition. Seeming uninterested in competing for credit, he actually used magic to harvest the souls of the dead orcs.
Donald knew that in this war against the orcs, he had already achieved the greatest military merits. No amount of killing more orcs could catch up to that. Besides rewards for his services, his biggest gain was the soul power, which was usually hard to obtain. So, he didn’t care much about minor contributions—after all, the orcs were doomed to defeat, and the outcome was irreversible. It was better to let others take the credit while he quietly reaped the benefits.
Through the divine vision granted by the Book of Truth, Donald saw that the souls of the dead humans remained intact after death, forming faint white human-shaped shadows. These souls appeared for less than a breath before ascending, with expressions of reverence, longing, and a hint of nostalgia, disappearing into bursts of white light.
Ordinary people couldn’t see this, but with the divine vision from the Book of Truth, Donald witnessed the entire process clearly.
Donald noticed that some of the souls that disappeared quickly bore a certain glowing mark, while those without marks lingered a bit longer before vanishing.

It was then that he realized that, compared to the fallen beast gods of the orcs, the human world was home to many true gods. It was said that human believers would automatically be drawn to the underworld after death and then guided back to the realm of the gods by their divine messengers. Only a few unbelievers and hypocrites would dissipate in the world, while a small number could remain in the underworld ruled by the underworld god, waiting for a chance to be reborn.

Human souls were more complete and larger than the soul orbs of orcs, and far stronger than the fragmented souls of orcs. They must contain considerable spiritual power, which made Donald eager. He had tried to secretly absorb human souls, choosing those without marks who would not be directly guided to the underworld. He assumed those dead human soldiers were either unbelievers or undevout, so even if he acquired their souls, it would not draw the attention of human gods.

However, just as Donald was about to absorb those human souls that remained in the main world for a short time using his soul orb, he sensed a resistance ten times stronger than that of orc souls before the orb’s pull could take effect. With little time, he could only absorb one soul out of three, with the others disappearing quickly.

Yet the value of one human soul was equivalent to that of seven or eight orc souls. So although the number of human souls he could absorb was less than three dozen, Donald made them his main targets.

“It seems true that humans are indeed the third most dominant advanced intelligent species in the main world after elves and dragons! No wonder it was said in my past life that humans are the spirits of all things.”

Three days later, all battles were over, and the battlefields were cleaned up. What remained was to eliminate the remaining small groups of orcs who had fled into the forests.

The supreme commander and the second prince held a grand celebration banquet at the Holy Sword Fortress. All nobles, officers, professionals, and civilian adventurers who had achieved notable feats in battle were eligible to attend. As for other adventurers and noble private armies, they celebrated together in the barracks outside the fortress.

“Ladies and gentlemen, humans have once again defeated the barbaric orcs. My scribes have already recorded the achievements of all those who fought. Tomorrow, someone will be sent to deliver them to the capital to be presented to the military headquarters and His Majesty the King.”

With that, Ferdinand raised his glass and said:

“This time, we were able to achieve such a great victory with minimal losses. Thanks not only to His Majesty the King’s wise decisions and everyone’s valiant efforts in battle, but also to our genius summoner—who single-handedly gave us the advantage to defeat the orcs. Everyone, let’s honor Mage Merlinna!”
“Honor Mage Merlinna!”…
After Ferdinand spoke, everyone echoed his words, raising their cups and drinking them in one gulp. Most of those present truly held Donald in high regard.
If there was a biggest winner in this war, aside from the kingdom itself, it was undoubtedly Donald.
Although other nobles, professionals, and civilian adventurers also earned significant merits, compared to Donald, their achievements were like fireflies next to the bright moon.
Still, most people were quite satisfied with this situation; even if not, they weren’t overly disappointed. Of course, this applied except for those noble youths led by Viscount Macbeth. Even Lord Bolton, who usually kept his emotions hidden, couldn’t help but turn pale, gripping his wine glass tightly until it creaked.
On the contrary, after witnessing Donald’s powerful skills and immense potential as a summoner, many nobles with uncertain loyalties began to consider cutting ties with Macbeth’s faction and keeping their distance once they returned.
As for those belonging to the Second Prince’s faction and neutral nobles, they frequently showed closeness to Donald at the banquet.
Donald paid no attention to the envy and jealousy from people like Bolton and Sodo, maintaining his composure as he conversed with everyone. This was a great opportunity to hone his social skills and build relationships with nobles.
However, soon those eager nobles had to leave Donald’s side, as the person of highest status present was chatting with him.
Surrounded by two important figures who asked questions about him, Donald was flattered, but thanks to his experience as a soul from two worlds, he quickly regained his calm and engaged warmly in the conversation.