With the death of his brother, Hahzi finally let out a roar that echoed the cave, stopping the other kobolds as he announced the death of their leader.
“It’s done…” He looked at the gargantuan body compared to his lying in front of the group. “Finally, years of unnecessary violence, ends with him.” But despite that he let his sling fall on the ground before he stared at his own trembling claws. “...but, why do I feel so empty?”
“He, or rather it, was still your brother.” Khalid said while flicking his scimitars in order to get rid of the excess of blood before using a piece of cloth to remove the rest. “Killing someone of your own blood just won’t feel right unless you do it one too many times.”
Everyone was tired which was to be expected, given the amount of effort everyone had to make in order to finish the battle. Slowly but surely, the other kobolds that were under Wendigo’s command were now being incorporated into Hahzi’s rule. However there was still much to be done in order to fulfill their side of the bargain.
“Listen to me!” Hahzi shouted. “We’ll take all the prisoners to the surface! As thanks to our allies, it’s our turn to do some heavy lifting!”
Phoebe noticed the tactician barely holding herself together while lying against a mound of destroyed rocks.
“Leona, are you alright?”
She was breathing heavily, her left hand fingers were hot and still tingling from the sprained joints that she had to strain during the fight, the lack of mana inside her body was making her have fever dreams as she mumbled.
“I can’t… let them… die… not again…”
Krieg seeing his liege like that made sure to pick her up to carry her back to the surface. The armored kobold named Zerm approached them and made a gesture with his claws, suggesting that he’d lead them.
The knight and Phoebe agreed and began to follow him. As they left, Charlotte was checking the look of the prisoners that were being taken to the dig site’s exit, however most of them looked like your average thug. Muscular men only meant for heavy work.
“Hahzi.” Charlotte started to ask. “Were there no women or children taken as prisoners?”
“...are you sure you want to know, Lady Charlotte?”
Her reaction was to glance at the mound of bones that were blown away by the previous sack of gunpowder they had. Many of said bones were either too thin or too small to be considered from an adult human’s.
“Did they suffer?”
“Most of them no. Kobolds don’t really like their food squirming about, unlike goblins.”
A bitter taste flooded her mouth as she clenched her teeth as she muttered under her breath.
“I see. Thank you Hahzi.”
“You’re welcome and… I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s… fine. I should have expected something like this.”
“We did save some more people other than Hector in the upper levels. Women and a few kids that weren’t suitable for work were sent to be executed but my group managed to save them.”
“Can you have them brought to the surface as well? I don’t know if I can face them.”
“As you wish.”
While following the line of kobolds, sweaty men and tired soldiers, Charlotte came to realize just how human Hahzi really felt, aside from the obvious strong accent of his words, he was, for the most part, just like any other person she would meet in Astera. It was a strange sensation, she came in that place looking to exterminate every last kobold she would see, but instead was now being helped by one.
It took almost an hour to get everyone out of the cave and once they had counted how many there were, it was already dark. Leona was able to recover, albeit just enough to stand on her own feet while using Phoebe’s shoulder to help.
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“I’m sorry Phoebe.” She said with an apologetic tone. “I should’ve been more careful.”
“If you held back we might not have been able to defeat it. Which is to say I much rather support your tired body rather than a lifeless one.”
She chuckled in response.
“I like your honesty.”
“Are you sure you’re feeling alright Leona?”
Krieg was beside her with the longsword between his hands supporting both arms. His usual serious expression was now a bit troubled as he looked at her.
“I’m fine, just a bit tired is all.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad to have you two with me.”
Despite his troubled expression he was able to smile a bit as they continued to observe how Charlotte was organizing the now much bigger party.
“I could just shoot the suspicious ones here and now as I can tell just by looking, not all of you are innocent. However!” She was holding a torch on her left hand while walking back and forth with Khalid and Luka beside her, Gregor, Luka and Cecile were behind the group of people that were brought out of the cave with their rifles in hand. “In respect for our newfound allies, not another drop of blood shall be spilled today. We’ll head back to Astera where you’ll receive lodging from the warrior’s guild. If any and I mean, any of you, dare to attempt an escape on the way to the city or cause trouble there, I swear on the name of my dead father, you will regret it. That is all.”
Obviously, the women with children were assigned separately from the group of shackled sweaty men, though not without a bit of suspicion from Charlotte’s part, they were also meant to follow the same set of rules she had just provided. After her speech was over and the group was ready to depart, Hahzi approached the captain for one last word.
“Thank you again, Captain Charlotte. Without you and your group my family would’ve paid a much higher price than today.” He bowed and the kobolds that were accompanying him did the same. “That is to say, from here onwards I’d like to send an envoy of my people in order to begin trading with the city on more, friendly terms.”
“You’re welcome to do so, Hahzi.” She had a confident smirk on her face as she took a piece of white cloth from her pouch and handed it to him. “Have your envoy wear this on their left arm, I’ll let the soldiers defending the city know that they are to be let inside.”
He received the cloth with both hands as if it was the most precious thing in the world, he lowered his head once again in a silent thank you. Before turning to Leona.
“I heard from the captain of your struggles, here.” He motioned to the armored kobold as it took a metallic glove from a bag and handed it to Hahzi, who then offered it to her. “It’s not much, but this gauntlet was once from someone I deeply respect. She was the reason why I was able to learn your language and read.”
Leona took the piece of armor and tried on her right hand and she instantly noticed how it was a perfect fit. Her fingers moved unobstructed and the metal was somewhat light, akin to silver but it wasn’t the magical kind as it didn’t emit any mana.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the name of this person, Sir Hahzi?”
“I never asked her. But she was a silver haired maiden with ruby red eyes, about captain Charlotte’s height. Beauty incarnate, if I ever saw one.”
Krieg’s eyes widened a bit as he discreetly glanced at Leona, who, in a moment of surprise, could barely hide her shocked expression.
“I… see…” She looked at the metal glove, closing tight and opening her hand as if remembering a pleasant memory. “Thank you again for this gift, I’ll treasure it.”
After saying their farewells, they headed off with the main group. Gregor and Khalid lead the prisoners and survivors while Cecile and Luka were on the left and right side respectively with their weapons out while Percival stayed alongside his liege at the back, Leona was being carried on Krieg’s arms while Phoebe held her longbow with an arrow loosely notched accompanying the large group a bit in the back.
“It was one hell of a day.” Krieg commented, the tactician was already asleep despite the movement. “But I’m glad we were able to see this through.”
“What was Leona’s reaction to that gauntlet? I thought it was just a random piece of armor he scraped up as a reward.”
His expression was a bit saddened but not enough for her to notice as he explained.
“That probably belonged to Lady Ravness. Her mother.”
Phoebe couldn’t help but turn at him with a raised eyebrow. Of course she would be in disbelief, why would a noble woman have a gauntlet and why would she even be anywhere close to a den of kobolds?
“You can’t be serious. A noble, being anywhere close to these beasts? She’s Arcadian on top of that so why would she even be here of all the places?”
“She told me her story. Long ago when she came to this continent she was a trader at first, peddling her inventions in order to earn a living. But before she knew it, the things that made it easier to take one’s life got her the reputation of goddess of death. It wasn’t long before she had to move out of Astera, but for that she still needed a way and the kobolds in this region used to trade with Akrapocalis back then.”
“She paid them with a gauntlet?”
“They don’t have use for coins like us, instead they prefer to barter.”
“I see…” She looked at Leona who was still sleeping with her left hand on top of the gauntlet with a calm expression on her face, as if she was having a good dream for once. “I’m glad she was able to find it.”
He looked at the clean dark sky, sparkling stars filled the void which gave him a warm feeling inside his chest.
“Yeah… me too…”