Kara didn’t know what happened. Dammir didn’t know what happened. Angel didn’t know what happened. And Kurg certainly didn’t know what happened. They all turned to Arjin, thinking she could give an explanation.

But she didn’t know what happened either.

Something inside of her instinctually compelled her to move— to attack. It must have been because she was startled. For a brief moment, she thought she had seen an orc’s lifeless head staring at her. And instead of running away, she fought back.

Perhaps if this were in any other scenario, Kara would be praising her. But right now, Arjin had messed up— she knew she messed up.

That was why the former prostitute bowed her head and profusely apologized, “I’m so sorry, Mr Elder Sir!”

Kurg rubbed his stomach where she had struck as he tried to wave a hand off dismissively. “There is no need to apologize. I should be the one who apologizes for startling you.”

He paused as he tilted his head back. Arjin thought he was about to rebuke her. But instead, he just chuckled.

“And you pack quite a strong punch, don’t you? I have always heard that dark elf women are strong. But I never expected an ordinary woman like you to be that strong. That even took the wind out of my lungs.”

Kurg grinned as he looked at Arjin once over. She shrank back and bowed her head apologetically once more.

“I’m truly sorry, Mr Elder Sir,” she started.

“Please, you do not have to refer to me with all those titles,” the orc cut her off, raising his hands placatingly. “Just Kurg is fine.”

“R-right.” Arjin bit her lower lip. And she bowed even lower. “I’m so sorry.”

Kurg just scratched the back of his head at that. Kara stepped forward, placing a hand on Arjin’s shoulder.

“Arjin is probably antsy around orcs because she has had a few… bad experiences, since she was a prostitute at one point. So don’t blame her for what she did. I’m sure she didn’t mean to punch you.” The human spoke as she nodded at Kurg.

He placed a hand on his chin, impressed. “To think that a prostitute could be so strong— why not become a warrior instead?”

“That’s what Arjin has been trying to do,” Kara said simply with a shrug. “I’ve been helping her out from time to time. But she’s not an ordinary dark elf lady, at the very least. Isn’t that right, Arjin?”

She turned to face the former prostitute. Arjin blinked a few times, before nodding.

“Ms Kara has been training me. Thanks to her, I’ve advanced from Tier 2 to Tier 10 in under two months…” Arjin said as she lowered her head.

“In only two months?” Kurg blinked. “That’s—”

And Dammir, who had been listening from the side, finally piped up, “That’s damn prodigious. So don’t belittle yer hard work, lassie. Sure, Kara helped, but ta get ta where yer at so quickly takes massive effort on yer part!”

Kurg agreed, “It is most impressive.”

Arjin just flushed in response. She twiddled her thumbs as she shot quick glances at the Elder of the Swordtooth Clan. “Y-you flatter me too much. Even though I’ve learned a lot thanks to Kara, I’m not as strong as most folks at the same tier as me.”

And that was true. Arjin wasn’t just putting herself down. The baseline to work for one of the companies of Alyona was to have a Tier 10 manacore. But while most soldiers had been capable of taking on two or three forminac soldiers on their own, she had struggled to even defeat one.

That mostly came down to a matter of experience— something which Arjin was lacking, but was striving to improve on. After all, while she was able to kill a forminac soldier on her own, it still required her to resolve herself before the fight.

That wasn’t all either. Even now, so long after Grok’s murder before her, she struggled to look an orc in the face.

It was a testament to how much growth she still had to undergo. But she wasn’t shying away from it. She was ready to embrace her weaknesses head on to become stronger, both for herself and those around her.

Still, Dammir rolled his eyes at her. “Bah, ye can never compliment this lassie. Just say thanks, dammit!”

“R-right,” Arjin said, before she turned towards Kurg. “Thank you. And sorry, again. About earlier.”

The orc just shook his head with a laugh. “There is no need to apologize. In fact, I probably deserved it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Arjin asked curiously.

And Kara’s brows furrowed, realizing what the orc was saying. “Oh, right. That’s true.”

Arjin glanced between the two of them. “I don’t get it.”

“I thought you looked familiar,” Kurg said as he crossed his arms. “But now, I finally recognize you. We have… met before.” He spoke hesitantly, almost looking away.

“We have?” Arjin blinked.

“You have,” Kara affirmed. “Not directly, though.”

Arjin was evidently confused. Kurg cleared his throat and began to explain.

“You see, when I found out that one of my close friends, Grok, was killed, I decided to pay his… alleged murderer a visit. I found out that I was misinformed and promptly left. But that was only after I had thrown a few rocks at her inn.”

The orc wore a sheepish look on his face. Arjin’s eyes went wide.

“That was you—” she started, remembering what had happened two months back.

But Dammir exclaimed as he pointed at the Elder of the Swordtooth Clan, “Yer the damn orc who broke my windows!”

It had been so long ago. But after Grok was killed, and Arjin was framed for the murder, she had been harassed incessantly by various different orc groups throughout the upper tunnels of Alyona. So much so that she couldn’t even leave her inn without being yelled at.

One time, a group of orcs had even come to her inn, demanding for her to come out. And the orc who had led them there was none other than Kurg.

“That was my fault,” the Elder of the Swordtooth Clan admitted as he bowed his head. “I apologize for that, Sir Dwarf.”

“That woulda cost me nearly ten silver to replace! I—” Dammir opened his mouth. And then he paused as if he recalled something. He drew back, grumbling as he kicked a pebble. “But I guess it doesn’t matter now that Alyona is gone…”

“I still wronged you,” Kurg said apologetically. “So I will make things up for you. And to you too, Madam Arjin, I am sorry for the grief I caused you.”

Arjin blinked a few times, before shuffling her feet. She tried to meet the orc’s gaze, and succeeded for about five seconds. “It’s fine… really, that was what pushed me to better myself, alongside Kara and Dammir.”

And she looked away again. But from her peripheral vision, she spotted Angel pointing at himself

“Angel too, of course.” She smiled his way.

He nodded emphatically in response. Kara snorted as she stepped forward.

“Anyways, what’s up with you, Kurg?” the human asked as she raised a brow. “I don’t normally see you in these parts of camp since you’re usually staying with the rest of the orc clans.”

Kurg met her gaze and straightened. “I came here to ask you for a favor, Kara.”

Kara exchanged a glance with Angel. But they both seemed as puzzled as each other. Arjin wondered what it could have been.

“Did you run into more trouble with that asshole from yesterday?” Kara frowned.

And Kurg harrumphed. “Senior Olarg will not bother me for a while. His pride is too bruised for him to act out again any time soon. Eventually, he will find the courage to try something again. But for now, there will be no issues.”

Kara nodded. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“However,” Kurg continued, “I wish to prepare myself for when this time comes. That is why I came here to challenge you.”

“Challenge me…?” Kara blinked at that. “To a duel?”

Kurg nodded. “I’d call it more of a friendly spar. After all, I wish to become stronger— especially now that I am the Elder of the Swordtooth Clan.”

Arjin’s ears twitched when she heard that. She finally looked up at the orc without breaking away her gaze for a long moment. While his motivations weren’t exactly the same ones she had, the outcome he sought was the same. And that surprised her.

Previously, she had thought that all orcs were just rugged brutes who didn’t care about anything except for sex and booze. But now…

“I have a responsibility to be strong for my people,” Kurg said as he balled his hands into fists. “And not just for them. But for my father, who sacrificed his life to save me. I cannot let him down.”

Kara chewed on her lower lip. “Well, if you put it like that, I cannot say no. I’m not going to take things too seriously, though. I don’t want to destroy the camp.”

She glanced around at the nearby tents. Many of them had already been cleared out, preparing to continue on through the Ashfields. But there were still a few folks milling about, packing up or having their breakfast.

“We have some space to spar here, but don’t go too wild either,” she said as she placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t want you to accidentally hurt someone.”

Kurg raised his fists as he grinned. “Unfortunately, I am not half as strong as you. I could not damage the camp even if I tried.”

The two of them faced off with each other as Arjin watched. Her gaze darkened as she heard Kurg’s resolved voice echo in her mind. They were so different, yet so similar. It was almost unsettling. She would have been lost in her thoughts, wondering why she felt this way, if this had been the her of a few months ago. But now, she knew better than to let her feelings stew. Instead, she took action.

So before Kurg and Kara could begin their spar, Arjin exclaimed.

“I would like to join in too!” She placed a hand on her chest.

Kara paused and faced the former prostitute. “Arjin? But I’m—”

“You’re supposed to be training me, remember?” Arjin said insistently. “We haven’t sparred at all in days! And I am stronger now, so I want to see how much I’ve progressed.”

“That’s—” Kara tried to say something.

But Kurg spoke up approvingly. “That’s the spirit. Then it’ll be two of us against Kara. It should even the odds a little bit.”

Angel stepped forward as he raised his staff. He whined, before nodding eagerly, joining both Arjin and Kurg’s sides. The three of them turned to Kara.

“Three-on-one gives us an even better chance,” Kurg said with a grin.

The utlas bear had simply wanted to be included. Arjin could tell, having known him for a while. But she wanted to push herself— not to challenge Kara in a duel, but to work alongside an orc. To get over her trauma which she knew still haunted her.

The former prostitute glanced at Kurg. Her heart was racing, just from staring at him. But she steeled herself and looked back towards the human standing in front of them.

“I…” Kara closed her eyes and sighed. “Well, fine, I guess. And here I thought this was going to be a friendly sparring session…”

Looking back up, she faced down her three opponents and shrugged.

“Just come at me whenever you want, I guess.”

Angel, Arjin, and Kurg all exchanged glances. They nodded at each other, before charging all at once. And from the side, Dammir watched as he rubbed his temples.

“By Kozli’s beard, I’m getting old…” the dwarf murmured.

 

—--

 

It was morning, and once again, Soraan was tasked with patrolling around the camp, even though he barely got a few hours of sleep. He wasn’t alone. He was with a group of other guards. And their main job was to make sure that everyone was awake, or maybe help out with dismantling the tents if necessary.

But his group came to a sudden halt as they spotted a commotion up ahead. His eyes narrowed, seeing a small crowd gather around in a circle to watch something.

“What is going on?” Soraan asked as he made his way towards the front of the gathering.

His fellow guards followed him, prepared to break up a fight. But when they got to the front, what they saw was something that was outside of their jurisdiction. Firstly, because the human was involved, and she was strong.

But secondly, it wasn’t a fight. It looked more like a friendly spar. Still, the crowd cheered when they saw Kara smack down the orc charging at her, before easily blocking the giant boulder thrown her way.

“I recognize the utlas bear and the orc,” one of the guards said. “But who is the dark elf?”

Soraan turned towards the figure running straight at Kara. And his eyes widened. “That’s… Arjin?”

He watched in shock as his sister dashed up to the human’s side, striking out with a dagger. The attack missed, and Kara moved to trip Arjin. But instead of simply falling over, Arjin flipped in the air and landed with a smile.

The crowd gasped in surprise at her athleticism. Even Kara was impressed.

“You’re not taking me down that easily!” Arjin exclaimed, dashing forward again.

As she distracted Kara, Kurg got back to his feet and nodded at Angel. The three of them surrounded the human as one of the guards turned to Soraan.

“You know that woman?” the guard asked, pointing at Arjin.

And a small smile spread across Soraan’s lips. “Of course.”

He felt a sense of pride welling up inside of him as Arjin struck out at Kara once more.

“That is my sister.”

And he continued to watch as the sparring session went on.

 

—--

 

Hayder had heard that there was a problem for him to attend to, so he called Caius and rushed over to the scene. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. Initially, he thought there was going to be some kind of an altercation between a group of orcs and a group of dark elves.

However, while he did indeed find an altercation which involved a dark elf and an orc, it was nothing like what he imagined. He only looked on as Kara slammed Arjin to the ground, before deftly redirecting a punch from Kurg.

Angel conjured up a volley of small boulders and hurled them her way. But she simply dashed forward and punched through the rain of rocks, reaching him before he could escape.

“Should we stop them?” Caius asked apprehensively, turning towards Hayder. “I mean, they’re not causing any harm, but we do need to leave this camp soon.”

The Captain of the First Company looked down at Caius, before looking up at Kara. He saw the way she fought against her three opponents. While it wasn’t a serious duel for any of them, she hadn’t even broken a sweat yet.

It almost reminded Hayder of the times he’d challenge Dark Lord Koros and lost.

His eyes fluttered shut as he whispered quietly to himself. “To be a ruler, you need to be loved.”

“Did you say something?” Caius asked with a frown.

And Hayder turned to the elf. He stared for a long moment, before looking up at Kara. He saw the way she so easily defeated Angel in close-quarters-combat. The crowd winced at how quickly she beat him down, even though he was a monster.

“And you need to be feared.”

“Uh, what?” The elf blinked a few times.

Hayder just spun around. “It is nothing.”

He strode away from the scene as he kept his thoughts to himself. Perhaps Alyona will survive this mess, after all.

And Caius stared as the Captain of the First Company left. He scratched the back of his head.

“So… we’re not going to stop them?”

 

—--

 

When the duel was over, Arjin’s body was aching all over. But she had no time to rest. The camp had fully packed up, and everyone was about to leave. So even as she was panting and hurt, she forced herself to follow the survivors of Alyona through the Ashfields.

She dragged her feet along the gray dirt as she rubbed her shoulders. Angel and Kurg had escaped the sparring session with far fewer injuries than she did, which was only proof that she still had a long way to go.

Kara had apologized profusely for going too far, and Dammir offered Arjin some healing ointments to help her recover. But while the former prostitute was glad for their concern, she didn’t want to take things any easier.

She wanted this. No— she needed this.

And Kurg was the only one who seemed to realize that.

“You did well,” he said as he strode alongside her. Blinking, she faced his smiling face as he continued, “We may have lost, despite trying our best, but you pushed yourself further than even I could.”

“That’s…” Arjin wasn’t sure how to respond as she eyed him hesitantly.

But the orc tilted his head back and spoke wistfully. “I would love to introduce you to my sister. She has always wanted to be a strong warrior too. But for our people, we are taught from young that women do not fight. Because of that, she has always been too discouraged to give it a try. However, I’m sure she would change her mind if she met you.”

Now that took the former prostitute by surprise. Me? Strong? she thought in disbelief. She wanted to rebuke him. If anyone was strong, it was Kara.

And while Arjin wanted to be strong, she knew she was still weak. She knew that she still had a ways to go before she could be proud of herself. Or at least, that was what she thought.

But then she saw the way Kurg was looking at her. He was genuine in what he said. He truly thought she was strong. Arjin stopped herself from rebuking him as she continued to stare at his face.

Before she finally realized that she hadn’t broken eye contact with him once since this entire conversation. She hadn’t even felt the urge to look away. Her gaze softened, and a small smile spread across her lips.

It was as Dammir had said, there was no need for her to reject compliments thrown her way. So she nodded at Kurg as he gave her an expectant look.

“Sure,” Arjin said as she beamed. “I’d love to do that.”

And the Elder of the Swordtooth Clan returned the smile to her. “I look forward to it, then.”

 

—--

 

A few days passed as the survivors of Alyona continued their trek through the Ashfields. While they still ran into even more monsters, they handily progressed through the terrain without any forminacs to slow them down. The number of casualties per day greatly decreased, and while Kara, Angel, and Uzbug were mainly responsible for that, some of Caius’s new policies as the Dark Lord played a role as well.

Firstly, he ensured that their rations were distributed based on necessity, rather than giving it out equally. Secondly, he had prioritized safety over speed, so while their pace slowed, they were able to avoid even more clashes with monsters. And lastly, he took advantage of Kara’s new abilities.

She wasn’t happy about it, even if she obliged. But he made her activate her Draconic Wings and take the skies, circling the survivors of Alyona as they made their way through the dull-gray terrain. Using her flaming wings alone wasn’t exactly tiring, but keeping it active for hours on end did start to drain on her.

It wasn’t that it wasn’t rewarding to her either, since she was able to kill any monsters that threatened the survivors of Alyona before any other soldiers could get to the scene first, thus filling her dragonsoul even further. She knew that she was getting close to the halfway point to her next ascension. Which meant that it was quite far away, considering everything she had done both in the Ashfields and since leaving the Ashfields.

According to Caius, her role was supposedly double-layered. Part of the reason why he wanted her flying up above was so she could spot any threat and danger before it approached them. But the main reason was so that everyone could see her at all times. Knowing that she was there would boost morale, pushing the survivors of Alyona forward.

Kara didn’t know when, but apparently, at some point, she had become a symbol of strength for others. It must have happened because of the culmination of everything she had done since Alyona was destroyed. And while it came with additional responsibilities, she was glad to see that she was no longer eyed with disdain.

Even if some people still looked at her in fear…

Nevertheless, thanks to Caius’s leadership, the survivors of Alyona made it through the Ashfields with relative ease. And now, they were back in the Xor-In Mountains.

Well, technically, they had always been in the Xor-In Mountains. After all, the Ashfields was a region within the vast mountain range.

However, they were finally safe. Or at the very least, they were safe from the threats posed by the Ashfields. The rest of the Xor-In Mountains were still quite dangerous too. There might not have been hordes of monsters running about like the forminac hives, but Kara had seen things back when she had still been lost with Angel.

There were creatures that came out during a magical storm that she was certain could defeat her in battle, even until now.

But according to Caius, those monsters remained in the deeper parts of the Xor-In Mountains. Right now, the survivors of Alyona were in what was considered a ‘safer’ region. And so were the rest of the Sanctuary Cities. They could only be formed because they were located away from the depths and dangers deep within the mountain range.

However, it was still incredibly dangerous here. So the survivors of Alyona couldn’t let their guard down.

As they made their way out of the Ashfields, Kara spotted a familiar figure stopping at the back, staring at the barren landscape behind them.

It was Architect Magus Uzbug, and she stood silently as she eyed her homeland.

Kara landed next to the ant-person, her flaming wings vanishing. “How are you holding up, Uzbug?”

It was a simple question. But Uzbug didn’t give an immediate response. Her antennae continued to twitch as she eyed a volcano in the far distance as it poured with lava.

Finally, she spoke softly. One day, I hope I can return here. Not as an outcast, but as someone who is accepted by my hive.

Her voice echoed like a whisper in Kara’s mind. But her feelings were louder than ever. And Kara sensed that.

“I hope you’ll be able to return to your home one day,” the human said reassuringly.

But then she paused as she wondered, And what about me? Would I ever want to return to my home? To… Earth?

Kara thought about it for a moment. Xantos sucked, and it wasn’t even her world. But there was nothing for her back on Earth either. So she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go back.

Well, that’s something for me to worry about later. She focused her thoughts. For now, I have to get the survivors of Alyona to safety, then find the Soulmaster. Maybe visit a human city too…

Even though she was a human, she wasn’t sure if she was keen on her last goal. While she was very much curious about what it would be like to interact with other humans in this world, she also remembered her brief conversation with Levi.

He had been a terrible person. He didn’t even treat dark elves, orcs, trolls, or minotaurs like they were people. Just monsters to kill and take from.

But he had been a thief, so perhaps he wasn’t representative of humanity as a whole in Xantos.

“I should probably meet with other humans to figure that out, huh?” Kara muttered under her breath.

And Uzbug finally broke away from staring at the Ashfields. She turned around and looked down at her four hands. For now, I shall focus on building a new city for the people of Alyona. Just as I promised Koros.

“That sounds like it’s going to be quite difficult,” Kara said understandingly. “I can’t help you, but I wish you luck on doing that.”

Thank you, Kara. For everything you’ve done for me and my people.

“Yeah, it’s no problem.” Kara smiled in return, before taking back off to the sky.

 

—--

 

And the survivors of Alyona continued on. Days passed, which quickly turned to a week. Kara had been told that it would take half a month to reach their destination. But it seemed that Caius was a better leader than he thought, because they arrived a few days earlier than they had anticipated.

Kara hovered over the survivors of Alyona, her flaming wings beating behind her back. In the distance, she saw a sprawling city with giant walls standing tall, surrounded by various makeshift camps and situated in the middle of a rocky plain.

“So this is the Sanctuary City of Yulia, huh?” Kara whispered.

Looking back down, she saw the survivors of Alyona cheering in relief. She found herself letting out a small sigh too, feeling a massive burden vanish from her shoulders.

“Hopefully we’ll finally be able to rest here…”

And the survivors of Alyona made their way to the Sanctuary City of Yulia.