Chương 53: Chapter 49

Sobelle woke up to the feeling of weight on her chest, and then the wetness of her clothes registered shortly after. The pain from her abdomen came third and fourth was the realization that hair had stuck itself on her mouth. This was not how her mornings usually started, and she didn't wake up feeling like her lungs were dead either. A slight tilt of her head was enough to let her see that Chael had chosen to use her chest as a pillow. Why? Sobelle wasn't sure.

Between the two of them, it was the merchant that would fit that role better. Her legs could maybe work, but Sobelle doubted the muscles there would be comfortable to lay on.

"Wake up, Chael." Sobelle used her non-aching hand to slowly shove the merchant off herself. She tried to move her other hand once it was free but the stinging was too much. Chael pressing her entire weight on it made the limb sleep, and Sobelle feared it would be permanent. This fear lasted until she raised the damn thing and moved it into a position that was over her chest.

She slowly checked the movements of her hand, first starting with the fingers—which she slowly tweaked in a wave—ans then moving to her shoulders after all five were just as dexterous as they were last night.

"Whuh?! —" Chael rose for a second before she went back to sleep and fell back down. Sobelle glared at her. She did not expect the merchant to be like this, Chael was usually so composed. Yet somehow, the girl's sleeping habits ruined that image rather easily.

'I feel pity for the man who'd have to suffer through this for the rest of his life after marrying her. Luckily for me, I'd only have to deal with her until I leave.' Sobelle sat up and this sobered her well enough to check on her gut. She gently prodded it with her index finger, and winced when it still hurt. Well... No, the hurt didn't come from the wounds she previously had, rather, her finger just dug far too deeply because she forgot to control her strength. Other than that? She seemed fine. Rituals...

She never believed in such things, though her mother undoubtedly did and so she was exposed to their existence. She was no stranger to the ways of magic, and Sobelle remembered the night before. The Gods had informed her that the ritual Chael did worked and that she would have the ability to recover easily for some time, so was that the reason why she felt so refreshed this morning? That was the only explanation as for how her wounds could recover so quickly.

Standing up did not make her feel lethargic and weak, which was completely unlike the time she was previously wounded. Back then, it had taken her a few days to heal the wounds caused by running quickly across the undergrowth, and the effects of them were felt by her even now. Or at least she felt them last night. Sobelle rolled her arms and let out a pleased sound when the limbs responded to her will perfectly. Her joints popped and she felt like a new person after they did.

She jumped in place for a few seconds to get a new feel for herself and just as she thought; nothing hurt. Not even her own stomach.

"What are you doing?" Chael just woke up so she was still drowsy when talking to Sobelle. This all disappeared when she noticed that her peer had taken off her shirt and was now removing the bandages. She sat up, "don't do that! What are you doing..." She was back to talking weakly when she saw the wounds had scabbed over. Her reaction proved that healing this quickly was abnormal and that the situation was just as Sobelle thought; the ritual last night worked and now she was back to being healthy.

A single night of recovery. That was almost unheard of wasn't it?

"How?" Chael stood up in confusion and touched the two wounds. It was clear she had never encountered anything like this before, "this doesn't make sense, wounds that deep had high mortality rates and yeah, you were lucky that they weren't as bad as they were the night before but... I thought that was just a fluke. How?!" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Shh!" Sobelle shushed the merchant and covered her mouth. Chael tried to resist but Sobelle was far stronger, "the ritual worked. The one you did last night? The spirits blessed me."

"The one I did last night?" Chael's mouth was freed from Sobelle's grip after she finished the explanation. Meanwhile, Chael scratched her head.

"That doesn't make sense, I knew that magic was potent but for it to be this good..? What are you, a descendant of the Spirit Lord?" Chael frowned.

"Wait no, that doesn't make sense, that guy is still alive and he's never had a wife as far as I'm aware? What?"

"Spirit Lord?" Sobelle felt like she'd heard of that name before, though she couldn't remember when.

"Who?"

"Irrelevant." Chael dismissed the question like a fly avoiding the swat of a meat seller. She calmed down and let out a relieved sigh, "I'm glad that the ritual worked, I thought you'd die from the wounds."

"I don't think that's possible." Sobelle believed the Gods would come to her aid if that were to ever happen. Or perhaps they wouldn't care about her at all because she failed? The second one sounded more likely.

"... Maybe it is, but I can accept that."

"Well, sure. But you're not dead. And I'm happy." Chael crashed against Sobelle as the merchant went in for a hug. Was she trying to crush Sobelle or something? Why was her grip so tight...

"I know that already." Sobelle gritted her teeth and pushed the girl away. Chael's strength was no match for her and was easily overpowered. Sobelle huffed, "well, I guess this means I can continue training now right?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Chael had no other choice but to agree, Sobelle was aware of this and acted all smug. Which was something the merchant did not fail to see, "I know you're happy that you can go back to training so quickly, but just know that you are going to have a harder time doing that today. You're still recovering."

"No, I feel fine actually." Sobelle started jumping in place again. She did not feel anything strange physically speaking so it was safe to assume that she must be fine.

"I think I can finish everything today and hunt another boar—""Absolutely not!" Chael glared at her before poking Sobelle between the ribs with her finger.

"Do you really think I'd allow that? You almost died yesterday and your chainmail is now scuffed! It got scuffed Sobelle! Do you know how strong something had to be to do something like that?!"

"Oh, I thought you were going to say that I can't use my chainmail because it's damaged, not trying to warn me about the dangers of a boar." But Sobelle was confident that she'd win against another boar this time, even if she had no armor over her stomach.

"I also meant it in that way." Chael raised her head high and arrogantly looked down at Sobelle.

"You should be careful and not hunt boars, those things are one of the most dangerous animals in the forest! People made specialized spears to hunt the damn things!"

"Yeah, I know that." Sobelle was well aware of the dangers of a boar, she had experienced it first hand after all.

"But I can kill a boar, I know I can. Well, I did kill it. Didn't I?"

"That doesn't change anything." Chael turned away and started fixing her hair. She sat down by the basin and turned to Sobelle, "well? Are you not going to comb your hair? It looks like a mess."

"I don't think I need to." Sobelle shrugged. Since when had she chosen to do something so stupid? Wasn't that a waste of time? She was fine the way it was.

"You can do that yourself, I'll be right outside."

"No, Sobelle, come here." Chael snapped her fingers and glared at Sobelle.

"I want to help you actually look presentable, so let me."

"Okay, fine. But that isn't going to change anything, just so you know." Sobelle ran her fingers through her hair and found resistance almost immediately. Some of the strands had tangled up.

"It's a lost cause, you should just give up while you still can."

"Absolutely nonsense." Chael rolled her eyes.

"You are not a man Sobelle, you need to take better care of your hair and skin, otherwise you'd look ugly."

"If you want." What did Chael mean by that anyway? Taking care of her skin and hair sounded like fantasy in Sobelle's head, and she had no real idea how to do it.

"Sit." Chael said once she got close enough. Sobelle followed.

"Good." Sobelle had her back facing Chael so she wasn't sure what the merchant would do. She heard the sound of splashing water in one moment then the next had wet fingers inserting themselves between her hair strands and then combing it until they straightened up.