Chương 59: Chapter 55

In hindsight, she should have expected something like this would happen eventually. After all, her family wasn't exactly kind to her and so cursing her was something they would feasibly do. That was just how they were.

"Sobelle, wait!"

"Aren't you gonna ask for a curse! We can curse them back so you can get your revenge!" She didn't listen to the plea. Nor did she bother to acknowledge the desperate man clinging to whatever shred of hope he had at staving off the inevitable downfall of his son. Both of them were irrelevant to her right now, especially Chael. Why bother hiding such an important thing? That girl was so stupid—"Sobelle! Stop!" Chael grabbed her by the shoulder and forcefully stopped her.

"Listen I know that—""I WAS CURSED! CHAEL!" Sobelle felt minor satisfaction when she saw the merchant flinch.

"Do you have any idea what that means?! My own family cursed me, and what? You want me to stand aside and let that happen?!"

"No! I don't!" Chael had already agreed, and yet she refused to let go of Sobelle's hand. Which confused her, why would Chael agree and then do this? The merchant held firm, and Sobelle did not pull harder for fear of hurting her.

"Just, listen to me okay? This isn't their fault—""It. Is." Sobelle gritted out the words one by one. Did Chael not understand the situation? She almost died! Again.

"I just finished fighting goblins Chael, what do you think would have happened if their curse took effect on me?"

"But it didn't!" This was the stupidest thing Chael said so far.

"So what, because their attempt to ruin my life didn't work out, I need to forgive them? Is that it?" What kind of argument even was that? Did Chael hear herself when talking? None of it made sense.

"Do I just forget that they attempted to hurt me in the first place?!"

"Yes! Sobelle! You should!" Screamed the merchant, she finally raised her voice. And now their argument turned from a minor squabble to a screaming contest that attracted the attention of the entire village, "because you were never hurt! You need to forgive them!"

"They tried to kill me!" And they wouldn't stop doing so unless Sobelle beat them up hard enough that they'd learned their lesson.

"I almost died!"

"Did you? Really? Did you?" Chael narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Didn't believe Sobelle.

"You came out fine in the end, I don't think you were even hurt, so did you really almost die back there? Or are you just saying this to justify what you are about to do?"

"Justify? Do I even need to do that when they actively tried to kill me?" Sobelle couldn't believe she still had to explain herself even after everything.

"My actions are justified, they tried to hurt me so I'm going to hurt them. I have been tolerating them for long enough."

"Who are you going to hurt, Sobelle?" The chief's voice broke through their argument and a corner of the forming crowd parted to let him pass. He didn't look mad, or even disappointed. But he did ask Sobelle what she meant about hurting people, "even if someone in the village is hurting you, I don't think it's a good idea to hurt them back, Sobelle."

"How is that not fair?!" The two people she expected to support her actively went against her decision. Sobelle clenched her hands into fists, she didn't get this. Why were they trying to stop her?

"They cursed me!"

"Yes, I know..." The chief raised his hands to try and placate Sobelle when she started walking towards him.

"Sobelle, think about it, what good would it do if you were to just hit people every single time they inconvenienced you? Everyone will will think you're cruel—""You know what?" Sobelle exhaled. She was done being treated as some convenient saviour when she was needed while being completely ignored when she was no longer needed.

"I don't have to defend any of you. I couldn't care less about anyone here!" She dropped her spear, her buckler, hell, she dropped her leather armor. The axe on her hip fell to the ground, and so did the dagger. She stepped over every single tool and shoved the chief aside, people parted when she got close and she left the crowd that circled her. Hurried footsteps came from behind her and when she turned, she saw Chael.

"What do you want?"

"I want to follow you." The girl gulped. She turned to the ground, slightly guilty.

"I'm sorry I didn't try to defend you, but the villagers would have—" Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Would have what? Shunned you? Like they did to me? You're scared of that?" Sobelle really didn't want to argue, she just wanted to walk away.

"Is that it?"

"Yes. I'm not like you, I can't be all on my own, I can't defend myself— I'm just... Me." Chael's soft spoken words made Sobelle stop. She was right, in a sense. She wasn't like Sobelle, who was blessed by the Gods themselves.

"Fine. Follow." Sobelle turned away and started walking again.

"Just know that I have no idea where I'm going, I just want to be anywhere else but here."

"I understand." Chael went silent after that. She hadn't spoken well until they reached their camp, "we can go to UnThilen I think, just like we originally planned." Sobelle could tell that she had been thinking about their destination while they walked.

"We can sell what we made there, they will be lacking food so they'd be desperate to buy anything. Especially smoked meat. Which we have plenty of. That's discounting all the other things." Chael gulped. The words just came rushing out all on their own.

"But we can also uhm... prepare things while on the way there! It'd be days before we reached UnThilen so I think that—""Let's do that." Sobelle looked at the merchant just before she set the candles alight for yet another stroke of good luck and protection. It wouldn't last long, but it was better than nothing.

"Let's go to UnThilen."

"Mhmm." Chael smiled and picked up the clay vases. She collected them next to the lake and looked around, her expression full of uncertainty.

"We don't have anything to carry these with, don't we?"

"We can make one." Sobelle picked up a rock and grabbed another one. She began knapping them.

"A wagon shouldn't take us long to make."

"Really?" Chael sat down next to her. She contemplated for a second but ultimately decided to place her hand over Sobelle's.

"Thank you, for not hating me." She kissed Sobelle's lips and blushed when she pulled back.

"I... I thought you'd hate me for doing that."

"I wouldn't." She would have, if Chael hadn't explained her own situation compared to Sobelle's. That was something she'd keep to herself however.

"Let's make the wagon, I'm not as good a merchant compared to you but I can at least do physical labor, right?"

"Maybe." Chael gently placed her head on Sobelle's shoulder and inhaled her scent. She got up, "I'll start my own preparations too, then we can leave for UnThilen once I'm done." What Chael planned to prepare was lost to Sobelle, and to be honest, Sobelle wasn't interested in it in the slightest. Chael could do whatever she wanted right as long as it didn't hinder Sobelle's own efforts. With the stones that she knapped, Sobelle made three tools in total: a spear, an axe, and a simple knife.

She would be lying if she said that she didn't recreate her old gear, as that was her intention. Her new stuff was so much more primitive and weren't as good as the metal tools she had been using but that was fine. Maybe she could compensate with blessings from the spirits? Or maybe the Gods would finally help her now. Sobelle grabbed her knife and held the handle of her spear.

She pressed the stone tip against the wood and considered invoking the name of one of the Gods, out of all of them, surely Justice would help her out, right? [May Kalis Guide My Strikes.] This was what she carved on the wood after several seconds of contemplation. It was a simple request, but it mattered so much to her. She expected to be ignored, but much to her shock, the system the Gods had given her informed her of the invocation's success.

Sobelle's eyes widened slightly as she read through the box that suddenly appeared. [Enchanted Wooden Spear: Raises Accuracy by 15%, boosted by [Dexterity] for an extra percent every 5 points (17%).] Sobelle sharply inhaled. She hadn't thought the Gods would bless the spear she made, and yet they did. She made a silent bow and thanked them for providing her with such a bounty. This was a lot. Especially now that she was only using primitive gear.

She did the same to her axe and dagger, though this time around, she didn't dare to ask the Gods for help and instead relied on spiritual blessings. For her axe, she asked the spirits to, [Great Spirits, May You Empower the Strikes of My Axe] [Enchanted Stone Axe: Raises Damage by 20%, boosted by [Strength] for an extra percent every 5 points (23%).] The same goes for her knife... Or rather, her stone dagger, as is recognized by the system.

[Great Spirits, I Ask of You to Curse Those Struck By My Knife so That They May Weaken With Every Hit] [Enchanted Stone Dagger: Inflicts weakness to struck enemies.] Sobelle dusted her pants and fixed the weapons onto her person. She tied the axe around her hip and sheathed the dagger using leftover boar hide. She held the spear and treated it as a cane.

"I'm finished." Sobelle checked on Chael only to see her bowing to a shattered vase. The merchant muttered something before she ignited the kindle in the broken pottery. Fire erupted and Sobelle curiously checked her system to see what it was about. [Blessing of Fire: 4: 59: 56] Blessing of Fire? What did that mean? It did say blessing, so Sobelle believed it to be good but this was the first time she saw something that did not describe its effects.

"I'm finished as well, we should bring this with us so that we have some protection while on the road. We can put kindle and firewood in it to keep it lit and to stop the blessing from dying." Chael got up and smiled.

"Let's go?"

"We should." Sobelle carried the vases to the wagon she just constructed. One by one, their sold goods were gently placed on the wood. Soon, all of them filled the wagon, and there was space to spare. To finish things off, Chael draped a net of plant fiber over the vases and then placed moss on top of that once everything had settled into place. She then placed the raging fire on top of the cover.

"I'm going to pull now." Sobelle gripped the wagon's handles with a tiny bit of force.

"Please do, and be careful about the splinters." Chael walked next to her.

"I will." Sobelle nodded and started walking. As they walked, Sobelle felt tempted to ask Chael about what the blessing of fire did but decided not to. She trusted Chael, and if the system told her that it was a blessing, then it must be one.