“Captain!”
Linbar, who infused his dagger with magic, cuts through the iron bars. Upon entering the prison, he similarly cuts the chains binding Tarkind.
Receiving Tarkind, who flows like seaweed, Linbar calls out, “Captain! Are you awake? Do you recognize me?”
“Uuuh…?”
Tarkind glances around with hazy eyes. His gaze lands on Linbar, who is holding him.
With slender, long hair, the moment he catches the scent typical of a woman…
“Eek! I don’t like females! I don’t want to mate anymore!”
“Captain? What’s wrong, Captain! It’s me, Linbar! Pull yourself together!”
“Eeeek!”
Tarkind shrieks like a girl, covering his face with his hands and struggles violently, trying to escape Linbar’s embrace.
However, due to his weakened state, it was not easy to break free.
The once-respected and caring scout team’s pride, Tarkind’s drastically altered appearance left Linbar in shock. He glanced at Carami in desperation.
“W-What happened to the captain?”
“Hm, perhaps the female orcs did something terrible? Given Tarkind’s intense rejection reaction towards Linbar, who is a human woman, it seems he has suffered quite a bit.”
Carami clicked her tongue at the sight of the broken Tarkind.
In a typical game, if he had been born as a male character, he should be a game-breaking character capable of smashing through the base defense.
Tarkind was ruined. It was not just anything; he was captured by orcs due to his lacking combat ability.
To make matters worse, he was forced by the orcs.
He was born a man, yet turned into a woman’s plaything.
‘What a pathetic guy.’
I will not end up like that.
I will remain a respected Master.
That’s what Carami thought.
It wasn’t the important thing right now.
Did he perhaps forget that? No, that wasn’t the case.
Tarkind was a slave never seen in the game.
Maybe the slave depicted in the gacha is a character that has never appeared in the game.
Still, thanks to Tarkind, new information was gained.
If a slave is not rescued in time and is left for a while, it will lead to ruin.
Of course, curiosity arose as well.
‘Did I summon him and turn him into a slave?’
One gacha, and the world changes?
That could be possible, or he might have already been a slave.
Right now, it was impossible to know.
“I’ll kill those orc bastards right now.”
Linbar gritted his teeth in anger. He emanated a killing intent as if he would wipe the orc species from the planet, but it wouldn’t be that easy to resolve by just raising the stakes.
“Linbar, I understand your feelings, but we have urgent matters to attend to. For now, let’s be satisfied that Tarkind is still alive.”
Linbar glared sharply at Carami.
“Be satisfied? When the captain is like this?”
“If you refuse to be satisfied, you can stay here. I’m not your master, and I have no obligation to care for you.”
Carami turned away without hesitation. From the beginning, she intended to come alone.
Wearing a stealth robe, she could navigate the fortress without trouble. Linbar had refrained from using items while with him, which was simply caution on her part.
“……”
Linbar cast his gaze once at Carami’s departing back and then at Tarkind.
It was frustrating, but Carami was right a hundred times over.
There were many who had been captured by orcs.
It would be difficult to accompany Tarkind in his current state.
Above all, if they stayed here, Asies would eliminate all the orcs. He wanted to take revenge on Tarkind with his own hands.
“Captain, wait here for a moment. I’ll be back soon.”
“I don’t like females….”
Linbar put a coat on Tarkind and laid him down on the floor. Carami dashed towards the disappearing corridor.
Carami, cautiously advancing, hid her body around a corner.
Not all the orcs had gone out to fight.
An orc patrolling the underground moved back and forth in the corridor.
‘Should I have brought Hargran?’
It would have been easy to handle the combat aspect, but the muttering beside her was bothersome, so she left him behind. It was clear he would get angry if she released the ice now.
While she had the stealth robe, she needed to open the door beyond the corridor and the prison door as well. For that, she needed the ring of keys from the orc’s waist.
No matter how stealthy she was, if she blatantly tried to steal the keys and got caught, it would be a disaster…
Creak!
At that moment, from the opposite side of the corridor, a sharp, piercing sound pierced her eardrums, and a thin line was drawn.
Thud.
“Gwaah!”
The orc fell over, letting out a pig-like squeal.
An arrow was embedded in the back of its neck.
Linbar came over, ready with a new arrow.
“After all that posing, you just stop here?”
“What about Tarkind?”
“I left him in a safe place. I’ll take him out last.”
“Got it. Understood.”
Carami grabbed the ring of keys that the orc had, and continued on her way.
“What’s your plan now?”
“We need to free the hostages and gather them in one place.”
“Again?”
“What do you mean, again?”
Linbar narrowed his eyes at Carami’s evasive answer. She hadn’t forgotten the words Jorn hinted at before she left.
“You said you would bring Baschal, right? Is he by any chance here?”
“Of course not. How could a dead person be here?”
Baschal had already gone through cremation. The gravestone was in the village’s rear cemetery, and his ashes drifted freely on the winds of Isgangar.
Carami knew that too but still claimed she would bring Baschal, which made Linbar wary of her intentions.
“Hm.”
Carami, strolling down the corridor, paused at a door.
A locked door that wouldn’t open. She began to search for the key among the jangling keys.
“How much longer do you think the chieftain will last?”
“…What?”
“I don’t think it will be long. The north is not a place for the weak to survive.”
Unfortunately, it was something everyone in the village, including Linbar, was aware of. But there was nothing that could be done; they couldn’t bring back the dead Baschal.
“Do you wish for Darika to die as a mad old woman, cherishing her long-gone son till the very end?”
Clink.
The door clicked open.
Inside was a storage room filled with stale dust.
Carami began rummaging through the storage.
“What do you want to say?”
Carami remained silent, digging through the storage until she picked something up.
As soon as Linbar saw what was in Carami’s hands, his eyes widened in shock.
“You… that…”
A string adorned with various decorations.
It looked just like a broken bracelet.
To Carami’s eyes, it appeared as follows.
[Broken Bracelet]
It once belonged to someone.
There’s a faint magical power left on it.
“I will give her a chance. Just like a chieftain of Darika, who lived bearing the burdens of her lineage, she’ll get the chance to die like a person. Of course, the choice is hers.”
Carami put the broken bracelet in her pocket and brushed past Linbar, ready to finish the remaining work after gathering what she needed.
Linbar, standing there dumbfounded, turned his heavy head to gaze at Carami. Despite the harsh cold of the north, a bead of cold sweat trickled down his back.
“You… what on earth are you?”
How on earth did you come by that bracelet?
Carami smiled gently.
“I’m just an ordinary slave trader.”
The orc settlement is home to thousands, starting from low-ranking orcs to orc warriors, berserkers, and shamans.
These are not the common hybrid orcs you might find in the wild; they are on a different level.
They do not swing crude wooden pillars like clubs. They have dwarven slaves make weapons and wear proper armor.
Systematically organized, they are a proper army.
There is no group capable of standing against the orc legion in the north. They are confidently the rulers of the north.
Whizz—!
At the center of this orc army’s stronghold.
Amidst the ugly orcs, Asies dances an elegant sword dance.
She treads rhythmically on the heads of the orcs as if it were her own home.
Wherever Asies goes becomes a frozen land, and any orc that gets too close freezes in the cold.
She is truly a living dry ice.
She permits no one to approach.
However, the orcs are also warriors, trained in their own right. They maintain their distance, cautious of her prowess. Orc shamans chant spells, invoking their magic.
Physical enhancement magic.
The bodies of the upgraded orc berserkers glow red.
The berserkers charge in recklessly, unperturbed by the freezing magic despite entering her domain.
Yet, as they cannot perfectly defend themselves, their bodies gradually freeze, but they pay it no mind.
“Uwoooor!!!”
One orc, seemingly unable to feel pain, reaches Asies, half-frozen, and raises its voice, wielding its red axe.
A heavier, faster attack.
Yet, it was far from being able to reach Asies.
Easily avoiding the axe, Asies stabs the orc with her sword.
A display of swordsmanship that is both glamorous and precise.
Countless cuts appear across the orc’s green body.
Though they may not feel pain, they are not invincible; the critically injured orc berserkers fall into the snow.
Boom!
Lightning flashes.
A bolt of lightning strikes down above Asies.
An explosion erupts, sending snow flying in all directions.
However, as the smoke clears, Asies stands unharmed. The hemispherical ice shield around her completely negated the orc shaman’s attack.
“Grrk… female. Strong.”
There is no way to break through.
No matter what means they use, it does not work.
The orcs, who had charged in with great momentum, now hesitate to advance.
The orc army, the rulers of the north, is halted by just one woman.
As if they have come across their true master.
“Step aside.”
“W-What is it, Your Majesty…”
Suddenly, a low voice echoed through the fortress, causing the orcs to flinch. A massive orc, at least twice the size of a normal one, stomped forward, parting the orc crowd.
Its color wasn’t the ordinary green but a dark hue reminiscent of coal. Countless horrific scars marred its body, which bore a massive double-headed axe.
The king of orcs.
The ruler of the north.
It was the appearance of the orc king, Valkras, blessed by the ice dragon Skadi.
