Chapter 8
Chapter 8
When I poured mana into the broom, three spiraling horns like a demon’s antlers stretched out, glowing with black light.
I sent a little sympathy toward Triceratops, who had suffered the indignity of being reduced to cleaning duty all this time.
The moment one of their comrades’ heads burst apart, three orc warriors charged in, having lost all reason.
I split them apart along with their wildly swinging battle-axes.
I didn’t want to drag this out.
I wanted to finish quickly and comfort Joshua, so I enlarged the spirals extending from Triceratops more than usual.
Sensing danger, the orc chief grabbed nearby orcs as shields, while the shaman cast a wide-area buff. Even the orc warriors, stripped of fear of death, kept charging.
One meat shield wasn’t going to be enough.
Just once.
The strike imbued with black magic curses traveled through the broom, ready to cleave through the entire orc pack—
But then a swarm of beautiful blue butterflies fluttered past my eyes.
Elegant enough to vanish if touched.
They reminded me of the tiny butterfly perched by Joshua’s eye.
Joshua, who had been frozen moments ago, had regained herself and was desperately moving her mana, searching for something she could do.
“Joshua?”
“Yes!”
The bold answer made me smile.
She had been a strong child, protecting her parents’ grave alone in the ruins of a village.
“You can handle real combat, right?”
“Yes!”
Roots burst out of the ground and wrapped around the orcs’ legs.
In the Aria Chronicle series, witches served as debuffers, inflicting all sorts of status ailments.
Binding, curses, sleep, hallucinations.
Cruel effects only witches could wield.
Using butterflies to sow confusion, then controlling roots to bind them.
Even though I had never taught her, Joshua was perfectly carrying out the role of a witch.
At this point, my plan to wipe them all out at once changed.
I wanted to fight alongside her a little longer.
Fighting in sync with someone else—
I had thought that kind of thing would only happen far in the future.
I wanted to witness her growth with my own eyes.
I cut down the orcs trapped by the roots.
Just as I’d taught her—
If safety was secured, eliminate the shaman first.
“Estel! I’ll help!”
Protected by the butterflies, I charged straight toward the shaman.
“Protect the shaman!”
The orc chief shouted, but it was meaningless.
The shaman, trapped by the roots, couldn’t flee.
I cut off his head in one strike, then swung my broom to keep the orcs behind me from approaching.
If their shaman had been decapitated in a single blow, fear should’ve set in.
But even after seeing such a gap in power, they showed no fear.
Maybe I’d underestimated the magic stone’s power.
It wasn’t just affecting the chief—
It had infected the entire group.
“Grrr! Move aside! I’ll deal with this myself!”
While the few remaining orcs were falling one after another to Triceratops, the orc chief finally got up from where he’d been sitting.
“A little late, aren’t you?”
Too late to fight.
Too late to run.
No matter how much power the magic stone gave him, wildly swinging that axe meant nothing if it couldn’t hit.
The more reason he lost, the simpler his attacks became.
Sometimes he swung at illusions.
Sometimes roots tripped him up.
Watching him stumble around felt like watching one of those monster arenas run by the Empire.
Then, deciding that Joshua was the reason his attacks weren’t landing—
“Catch that female!”
“Not happening.”
I kicked him right in the weak spot, then created a hole in the head of the last orc charging toward Joshua.
“Grrgh…”
“Well, looks like you’ve got no subordinates left to command.”
Only one remained.
I sneered at the groaning orc chief.
“You’ll entertain me, right?”
Black tentacles shot out from the shadows, wrapping around him and pinning him to the ground.
I stepped on his face to keep him still.
Long enough to pull out the magic stone embedded in his forehead.
My encounter with the orcs had been mostly for Joshua’s education—
But the power the magic stone displayed during the fight intrigued me.
“P-please... spare me!”
“No~”
What happened to a creature serving as a host for a magic stone once the stone was removed?
I wrapped mana around my hand and grabbed the stone.
The magic stone sucked away the host’s life force to protect itself.
In the end, it only came loose after the orc chief had withered into a mummy.
The stone that had radiated such ominous power in his forehead had now become nothing more than an ordinary pebble you could find by the roadside.
Damn.
That killed the excitement.
I tossed the stone aside.
There’d be plenty more magic stones in the future.
Plenty of chances to satisfy my curiosity.
That aside—
“Hm. Were there orcs like this in the western regions?”
I examined the mummified chief’s face.
If they had simply passed through this area, maybe it’d be different.
But the way the shaman had tried to break the barrier—
That wasn’t how the stupid western orcs behaved.
They’d have just bashed at it with axes.
Or avoided it entirely.
I considered asking nearby orcs later—
But imagining them bowing ninety degrees and saying, “Big sister! Have you been well all this time?!” made my stomach turn.
Yeah.
I should avoid seeing orcs for a while.
Joshua had collapsed from mana exhaustion.
I helped her to her feet.
“How was it? Fighting orcs?”
“Please don’t make me remember it... And... they weren’t that much, honestly.”
Even after saying it, she blushed and avoided my eyes.
Was this really the same Joshua who had frozen at their roar?
My chest swelled with pride.
But strangely, I didn’t feel like teasing her.
“Ugh.”
The grotesque aftermath of battle made her stomach churn.
I patted her back while she gagged.
Because she’d done so well, I kept forgetting—
Everything here was still unfamiliar to her.
Later, when she killed monsters herself—
Or people—
It would hit even harder.
After vomiting a few times, she finally looked up.
The eyes she usually hid behind her bangs glimmered in the light.
If only she showed them more often.
I wiped away the tears gathering in her eyes and patted her head.
“Shall we go home now?”
“There’s... still people.”
People?
Joshua pointed at the iron cage.
The prisoners I’d glanced at while explaining the orcs.
The man was covered in bruises shaped like fists.
Broken bones jutted through torn flesh.
And the women...
Finger marks all over their bodies.
Blood running down their lower halves.
A disgusting white fluid mixed with it.
My face twisted.
Their tendons had all been cut.
They couldn’t even resist.
I took off my robe and covered them.
For Joshua’s sake.
“They won’t last long.”
Joshua clearly wanted to save them.
But from what I could see, saving them had no meaning.
Even if they returned alive after being captured by monsters—
Only their families would welcome them.
Would everyone else?
What husband would want a wife defiled by monsters?
Especially when she might be pregnant.
He’d fear being tainted too.
Even if they hid what happened—
The trauma would remain.
Their hearts would rot.
And eventually, they’d resent Joshua for saving them.
At that point—
Death here would be kinder.
There would never be flowers blooming in the rest of their lives.
Saving them before the orcs could humiliate them further—
That alone was enough.
“But if it’s your medicine, Estel... you can save them, can’t you?”
“Can I? Yes. But honestly... I think it’d be kinder to let them go peacefully.”
Among the things stored back in the cave were items and potions capable of miraculous recovery, so long as death hadn’t already claimed them.
But those were preparations for the future.
Not something to waste on passing strangers.
The only thing I could spare was a basic recovery potion—
Just enough to keep them from dying.
And honestly—
Even that felt wasteful.
“If they can just live, that’s enough!”
“Joshua?”
In all the years we’d lived together, she had complained sometimes—
But she had never once defied me.
This stubbornness—
It felt almost obsessive.
“I’m sorry. I’m being unreasonable.”
At least she knew it.
“Do as you wish.”
Better to act and regret it—
Than regret doing nothing.