The Freed S*aves Became Obsessed

The bloody battle to decide the true ruler of the North had just ended.

Valcrash, frozen into a lifelike ice sculpture that could easily fetch hundreds of gold if sold to a great noble, lay motionless. His heart had already been pierced, but he was still the Orc King in name.
To prevent even the slightest chance of resurrection, his head was smashed to eliminate the root of any potential disaster.
Orcs, having lost their leader, wailed and charged at Ashies. However, even in her weakened state, she disposed of them with ease.

Thus, the Orc legion that once ruled the North was annihilated before the day was even over.
“Did we really survive? This isn’t a dream, right?”
“What kind of dream reeks this badly? Those damn orcs stank so much. We made it—we’re alive!”

From those rescued by Ashies to the ones Karami and Linvar had freed while searching the fortress, the captives who had been held by the orcs burst into tears and embraced one another.
They didn’t forget to express their gratitude to Ashies.
“Thank you, beautiful knight. Truly, thank you so much…”

“Huh. A knight? Not a princess?”
“What does it matter? She’s still our hero who saved us!”
“A hero, huh? In times like this, is it okay to hope this endless winter will finally end?”

“Of course it is!”
While the freed captives chattered cheerfully, Linvar brought Tarckind over. Despite the situation being resolved, Tarckind had yet to regain his senses.
“Nooo! Get those females away from me! Save meee!!!”

Because he suffered fits whenever a woman got near him, they had tied him up tightly with ropes to keep him from moving and carried him on Linvar’s back. Even then, he flailed like a worm.
“Ra… mi… who…?”
“He’s Linvar’s captain. We thought he was dead, but he’d been taken captive. The horrors he endured while imprisoned shattered his mind.”

Ashies tilted her head and stared at Tarckind. His flailing stopped the moment his eyes landed on her.
He froze completely.
Then, his eyes remained fixed on Ashies.
“A female…? Huh? Oh? O-oh. Good.”

“Wow.”
“Wow! Are you kidding me? This guy struggled like hell to get away from me, but now he acts like this around her? And I came all this way to rescue him? When we get back to the village, you’re dead meat.”
Ashies’ beauty instantly cured Tarckind’s fear of women. Karami let out a sigh of admiration, while Linvar, utterly dumbfounded, laughed bitterly.

Unexpected as it was, the mission had been a resounding success.
Thanks to Karami’s careful preparations, they had already evacuated the hostages in advance, making it easy to leave the fortress quickly.
‘Secured the treasure, saved the hostages, and took down the Orc King.’

It was practically flawless.
A satisfied smile spread across Karami’s face.
Then, his gaze fell on Ashies.

Riding her ice-crafted sled, Ashies scanned the crowd, her eyes searching for something—or someone.
“What are you looking for?”
“Baskal… where is he…?”

“Oh, Baskal?”
Karami pulled a broken bracelet from his pocket and handed it to Ashies. She tilted her head, unable to grasp its meaning.
“…?”

“Deliver this to the chief. He’ll be overjoyed—probably to the point of tears.”
They returned to Lake Fortress.
Fifty people.

Transporting them wasn’t difficult. Ashies’ ice sled carried the group, linked together by ropes, and the frost wolves pulled them. Such a feat would have been impossible with ordinary horses, but these were beasts of magic.
When they had left the village, there were only five of them. Now, they returned with fifty.
If it had been two people leaving and three coming back, it wouldn’t have been so surprising. But five leaving and fifty returning? Even decades of wild orgies wouldn’t produce results like this.

Though the villagers were startled by the sudden influx of outsiders, they quickly let their guards down after hearing their story. After all, in the harsh North, survival depended on people sticking together.
There was even more to celebrate—the death of the Orc King and Tarckind’s return.
The villagers were horrified at Tarckind’s condition, but Linvar’s confident assurance that he would recover eased their worries, at least a little.

Still, it remained a mystery why Linvar had dragged the struggling Tarckind away, ignoring his protests. The man’s anguished screams were heard not long after.
Yorn stepped forward as the village’s representative to greet the two heroes. Karami shrugged as he faced him.
“Well? We wiped out the threat to the village and even brought back treasure.”

“…And here I thought you claimed you’d bring back Baskal. Looks like that was just an empty boast.”
“You’re so narrow-minded. Right, Miss Ashies?”
Karami smirked at Yorn, who stubbornly refused to acknowledge their accomplishments and instead nitpicked their shortcomings. Yorn turned away, avoiding eye contact.

“Follow me. The chief has been waiting for your return.”
“Wow~. Shameless. You’re so good at changing the subject. You’d make a better merchant than a chief.”
Ignoring Karami’s sarcasm, Yorn led them toward the chief’s tent, and Karami followed with his hands clasped behind his back, walking alongside Ashies.

Inside Darka’s tent.
Darka knelt with one knee raised. Unlike her usual self, she wore all the traditional ornaments and garments of a chief that she had previously avoided as uncomfortable.
Beaming brightly, she welcomed them.

“Welcome back! So, you defeated the Orc King? Did you bring the final treasure?”
“Of course.”
Karami handed the chalice to Darka. Its pale blue glow had faded, as if it required time to be used again.

“This is indeed the treasure of the kingdom—and also a cursed artifact. It raised a lowly orc despised by its kin to the rank of king. Such a dangerous object should never exist.”
Darka placed the chalice down and began reciting a lengthy incantation in an unfamiliar language. Responding to the spell, the chalice shone faintly and regained its original pale blue hue.
Though it looked like she had restored its power, the opposite was true.

“This is no longer a magical artifact. It’s just an ordinary cup.”
“Well, that’s a relief. I was starting to worry you’d use it to become the queen of witches or something.”
“Why would I use it? It’s not mine.”

With that, Darka handed the chalice and a music box to Ashies.
“Take them. They’re yours now.”
“Mine…?”

“The tiara’s already with you, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It just suddenly… appeared.”
“To think the hero we’ve waited for was right in front of us all along. How shameful for a chief not to notice…”

Even as she laughed at herself, Darka suddenly stopped and handed Ashies a necklace with a lazulite pendant.
“It’s time for the promised hero to fulfill her role.”
Though Yorn remained silent, he didn’t object. Deep down, even he seemed to accept that Ashies might truly be the hero foretold in their legends.

Ashies received the lazulite along with the treasures.
The moment the lazulite touched her hand, her pupils trembled.
An unrefined gemstone.

And yet, just holding it caused a shift in the flow of cold energy.
The freezing aura that Ashies unconsciously emitted began to weaken. Once it was processed and polished, it would undoubtedly become even more effective.
Ashies’ heartbeat quickened slightly.

She clutched the lazulite tightly, as if afraid of losing it.
“Well, well. I should be treating our hero properly, but my body’s in no shape to do so. Now that you’ve finished your business here, it’s time for you to return to where you came from. I’m tired and want to rest.”
Darka coughed dryly and pulled a fur blanket over herself before lying down.

As the spectators slowly trickled out, Karami also rose to his feet. When Ashies moved to follow, Karami stopped her with a glance.
“Come on. Let’s leave them alone and head out.”
“But the chief said she was tired—”

“She’s tired because of your lack of tact. Save the nonsense for the grave and hurry up.”
Karami dragged Yorn outside, leaving only Ashies and Darka in the tent.
Now practically alone, Ashies blinked and tilted her head.

Why had Karami told her to stay?
Her expression said as much.
If Karami had seen her, he probably would’ve sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Time passed, wrapped in a stillness that felt almost meaningless.
Then, suddenly, a voice came from outside.
“Mm… Baskal…”

“Ah…”
Realization came belatedly.
Ashies turned to look at Darka, who had her back to her.

“Darka…”
“What is it? Still here? What, did you want to keep this old lady company?”
“…Give it.”

Ashies half-understood Karami’s advice not to mention who had told her to give it, leaving her words incomplete.
It wasn’t hard for Darka to piece together the rest.
“That damn brat told you to give me something, didn’t he…?”

Grumbling with the complaints typical of the elderly, Darka struggled to sit up.
Ashies held out a broken bracelet.
A faint trace of magic lingered on it.

“This… this is…!”
Darka immediately recognized it.
Her eyes went wide, and she swallowed hard.

She practically snatched the bracelet from Ashies’ hand, ignoring the freezing chill that numbed her fingers.
She knew what this bracelet was. She couldn’t not know.
“Baskal’s bracelet! I made this myself! There’s no mistaking it—it’s my magic! Where did you find this?!”

“The orcs…”
“…What?”
This bracelet was a charm that Darka had made herself.

She had crafted it with magic, hoping it would protect Baskal, who always returned injured whenever he left the village.
It was meant to keep her son safe.
Yet now, the bracelet was broken and no longer with its owner.

There was only one meaning to that.
“Ah…”
Darka froze, her face stricken with shock.

She collapsed to the ground and stared blankly into space, as if her soul had left her body.
But slowly, focus returned to her unfocused eyes.
It was the gaze of someone regaining clarity after being forced to face a reality they had desperately tried to avoid.

“Yes… That’s right. Baskal is gone now… Gone forever…”
“Baskal… gone?”
“He left on a long journey. A journey he’ll never return from…”

For Ashies, understanding the meaning of that journey was still difficult.
Darka carefully tied the broken bracelet back together, restoring its original shape.
Clutching it to her chest, she closed her eyes and began to hum softly.

The melody was like a lullaby, as if singing to a child.
The bracelet glowed faintly before the remaining magic rose like smoke and vanished into the air.
No matter how great a warrior one was.

No matter how respected a future chief.
To a mother, a child would always be a helpless little boy.
So that his soul wouldn’t wander,

So that he could rest peacefully,
Darka sang quietly.
Though Baskal had died long ago, Darka had never accepted his death.

As both a chief and a mother, she had done nothing for him.
This was her belated atonement.
“Thank you… Thank you so much for bringing me this bracelet. If it weren’t for you, I might’ve died and become a vengeful spirit.”

If she hadn’t been able to bring closure, she would’ve regretted it deeply.
Even in death, she wouldn’t have been able to reunite with Baskal.
“Now I can die without regrets…”

“…Darka, die…?”
At Ashies’ innocent question, Darka gave her a bittersweet smile and looked at her with distant eyes.
“I’m just going on a journey. A very long journey.”

“Can I… go too?”
“What? No way. You have to take your time—stay with your master and play around as long as you can before you come to join me.”
“With Karami?”

“That strange man… He might be the most suspicious person I’ve ever met, but when it comes to you, he’s sincere. If things ever get too hard, rely on him.”
Though she didn’t quite understand, Ashies slowly nodded.
She remembered him waving at her.

After sharing all that needed to /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ be said, Darka lay down with a peaceful expression.
“The Reaper, was it? What a kind Reaper he turned out to be. If all Reapers were like him, maybe they wouldn’t be so bad.”
Darka muttered to herself with a faint smile, her eyes closed.

And just a few days later—
Like flowers wilting without notice, Darka quietly passed away.