Chapter 47: Cause and Effect.
Cause and effect.
It was one of the simplest ways to subtly guide people toward the destination you wanted them to reach.
If one wished to fill another’s mind with questions, one first had to create something that didn’t belong,something unusual, something that contradicted the image that had been carefully carved into the minds of others. The deeper that image became, the greater the impact even the slightest contradiction could create.
Roman understood that principle well.
Long before the Burial, he had patiently built an image of himself within the Magnari. Calm. Composed. Rational. A Tribal Chief who always seemed to know what he was doing. Every decision he made, every action he took, and every word he spoke quietly reinforced that image until it became something the Magnari no longer questioned.
Only then...
When that foundation had become firm enough...
Did Roman deliberately allow the first crack to appear.
He showed sorrow.
He offered a prayer no one understood.
He spoke words that answered nothing, yet left behind countless questions.
Like ripples spreading across still water, those questions quietly traveled throughout the settlement. One thought gave birth to another until the Magnari could no longer satisfy their curiosity on their own. Eventually, just as Roman had anticipated, they came to him. He had never told them to seek him out, nor had he hinted that he possessed the answers they desired. Their own curiosity had simply become too great to ignore.
THUDDD!!
Everyone instinctively turned toward the source of the disturbance.
Standing at the entrance was Gre Ka Chu.
The blood and gore staining her body had already been washed away, replaced by a dress woven from silica fibers and stitched together with carefully treated beast hides. Compared to the savage appearance she had only moments earlier, she looked considerably tidier, yet the complicated expression upon her face remained exactly the same.
Without saying a word, she quietly walked past the gathered Magnari before taking her place beside Gre Ka Go. The moment she sat down, she leaned against him, pressing herself comfortably against his side as though everyone else inside the room simply didn’t exist.
"..."
Gre Ka Go glanced down at her for a brief moment.
She is still... upset about that?
After everything that had happened outside, he had simply told her to clean herself up, praised her for today’s hunt, and sent her away to wash the blood from her body. She had happily skipped away at the time, her tail wagging so enthusiastically that he had assumed her mood had completely recovered.
Apparently...
He had been mistaken.
Even though Gre Ka Chu sat right beside him, she made no attempt to join the conversation. She merely rested quietly against him while stubbornly avoiding everyone else’s gaze, her presence somehow making it feel as though she wasn’t participating at all.
Gre Ka Go smiled helplessly before returning his attention to the others.
"So... yes."
"...That’s how I came up with the Burial."
The words immediately drew everyone’s attention back to him, the stiffness Gre Ka Chu’s arrival had created quietly fading into the background. The elders, who had spent most of their lives relying almost entirely upon instinct, had never possessed a reason to question the customs they followed. As for the younger generations, they had simply grown accustomed to accepting everything Gre Ka Go introduced into the settlement. They learned, they practiced, and they understood the usefulness behind his teachings, yet very few had ever wondered how those ideas came into existence in the first place.
One of the younger Magnari finally broke the silence.
"Chief."
Gre Ka Go looked toward him.
"Have you... always questioned things like this?"
A faint smile appeared upon Gre Ka Go’s face.
"I suppose I have."
He rested one hand atop Gre Ka Chu’s head, absentmindedly stroking her hair as he spoke.
"Questioning is often the first step toward progress. How do you think I came up with everything I’ve introduced to our tribe? The hunting squads... the storehouse... the farms... even the Burial."
His smile widened slightly.
"They all began with a question."
"Why?"
"Could this be done differently?"
"Is there a better way?"
"And once those questions appeared.I simply searched for the answers."
The young Magnari stared blankly before lowering his head.
"I...I’ve never thought like that before."
"Haha..."
Gre Ka Go couldn’t help but chuckle.
"You’ve barely begun your life."
His hand gently patted Gre Ka Chu’s head once more.
"You still have an entire lifetime ahead of you to ask questions."
The room gradually relaxed.
Small smiles appeared here and there as the earlier heaviness quietly disappeared.
Yet while everyone else seemed satisfied...
Gree Ma Go’s thoughts only became more tangled.
One question had finally been answered, yet in its place several more quietly emerged. He could almost feel them pressing against the back of his mind, refusing to leave until they were given form.
He didn’t hesitate any longer.
"Brother Gre Ka Go..."
"Hm?"
Gree Ma Go scratched his cheek awkwardly as he laughed faintly.
"Hearing your words...I think you’ve made me selfish as well."
Several Magnari couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
"Yes."
"I also want to be remembered."
"So do I."
Soft laughter spread throughout the room before Gree Ma Go continued.
"However...I..."
He looked around at everyone else before letting out a small breath.
"No, We all have something else we wish to ask."
Gre Ka Go quietly nodded.
"I’m listening."
Gree Ma Go unconsciously straightened his back.
"Those strange words..The ones you spoke during the Burial."
Gre Ka Go blinked once before smiling to himself.
"Strange words?"
He thought for a brief moment before quietly laughing.
"I suppose... almost everything I say sounds strange to all of you these days."
His gaze returned to Gree Ma Go.
"Which words are you referring to?"
Gree Ma Go slowly lowered his voice.
"The One who dwells beyond the Endless Void..."
"The Nameless Null between Existence and Nonexistence..."
"The Eternal Witness of Countless Worlds..."
The strange prayer echoed faintly within the wooden house before gradually fading into silence. Even after the last word disappeared, the atmosphere it had left behind refused to dissipate. Every Magnari remained quietly seated, their eyes fixed upon Gre Ka Go with the same confusion they had carried ever since the day of the Burial.
Gre Ka Go looked from one face to another before letting out a quiet breath, a helpless smile slowly forming on his face.
"That’s actually a rather difficult question."
He rested his elbow against the table, absentmindedly tapping his fingers upon the wood while Gre Ka Chu quietly shifted on his lap, making herself comfortable as he continued stroking her head without even looking down.
"I’m not certain whether all of you would understand even if I explained it directly. Some questions are... strange like that. The answer itself rarely helps. Instead, it’s the path leading to that answer that makes you understand it."
His gaze slowly wandered across the room.
"When I find myself unable to explain something... I usually begin by asking another question instead. It sounds rather troublesome, doesn’t it?" A faint chuckle escaped him before he continued. "But I’ve found that questioning the very thing standing before the answer often leads you there much more naturally."
He paused for a brief moment, as though deciding where to begin.
"So tell me.Have any of you ever wondered what actually happens after we perish from this world?"
Silence.
Not a single Magnari answered.
Some lowered their heads in thought while others simply looked at one another, hoping someone else would speak first. They had questioned predators, hunting methods, tools, shelters, even the strange customs Gre Ka Go had introduced over the past months... but never this.
Death had always been... death.
Nothing more.
Gre Ka Go quietly observed their expressions before smiling to himself.
"I thought so."
His voice remained as gentle as ever.
"I wasn’t very different either. For the longest time I never questioned it. Life simply felt... complete. We hunted, we ate, we protected one another, we laughed, we fought, we raised the next generation... and eventually we died. There didn’t seem to be anything beyond that."
He absentmindedly continued patting Gre Ka Chu, who had long since closed her eyes beneath his hand.
"But then..." he murmured, his eyes unconsciously drifting toward the open window. "The more I questioned the world around me... the harder it became not to question death as well."
He smiled faintly, though there was a trace of self-mockery within it.
"Life itself is... surprisingly complicated. At first glance it seems simple, yet the more you live, the more things you discover hidden within it. There is love... compassion... understanding... dreams... regrets... countless emotions that cannot simply be explained by hunting, eating, sleeping and surviving."
His fingers lightly traced circles through Gre Ka Chu’s hair.
"So I couldn’t help but wonder..."
"If life itself held so many things beyond merely existing...Then could death truly be nothing more than disappearing?"
"Or..Could there be... another life..Beyond this one?"
"Have you ever imagined that?"