Chương 21: Chapter 20

Dark rooms that stank of herbs and bean milk were not Sobelle's preferred environment. Maggots writhed in a bowl next to her, the table that held it had a lone candle that illuminated a small circle around it. An empty vase which used to contain the bean milk, a cup of animal fat, and a bar of soap joined the bowl of maggots. Sobelle was at the far end of the room, she bathed in lukewarm water the color of ash.

Her wounds ached, and all the tiny scratches across her skin combined to turn her bath into something close to torture. She stood up and rubbed more soap across her body. It stung but the Gods told her that it would help so Sobelle didn't dare complain. She dove back down into the tub after applying the soap. The bean milk helped stop some of the pain, but it still hurt enough that Sobelle's eyes began to water. She closed them and silently counted numbers in her head.

She found out that this actually grounded the pain and helped her mind forget about her wounds. Maybe it was because the Gods taught her so much about them, but Sobelle felt that there was something peaceful about numbers. Every single one was a constant that rarely varied. And that solidity made them... Nice. Sobelle repeated cleaning herself three times before she got up from one tub and moved over to splashing her head with lukewarm water from a bucket.

She washed off most of the soap in her skin before soaking a simple cloth and wiping herself with it. A dry cloth then came and removed the excess water in her skin. Sobelle felt like a noble as she finished cleaning herself. Usually, she'd just wipe herself with a damp cloth and be done with it, but all these extra steps made bathing so complicated that it felt like something nobles would do. Or maybe they did something else and had servants to do things for them.

Anything was possible when it came to nobles really. Sobelle dried herself fully and then slowly wrapped bandages around her arms. She carefully covered the wounds, making sure that not a single roll of fabric did not go wasted and that every inch of it was used effectively. This was made easier by [Flow State], which made Sobelle's movements smoother. From her wrist to her biceps, Sobelle did not spare a single inch of skin.

All the cuts the plants gave her were covered in bandage, which she hoped would prevent any form of infection. She then did the same to her other arm as well as her legs, all four of her limbs were covered up and by the end of it, she looked like some poor fool who constantly went to the Leeches due to broken limbs. Next up was her medicine: she crushed garlic using her teeth, then drank a small portion of the animal fat from her cup.

She chewed, and just as the mixture started to taste good, Sobelle shoved a handful of maggots into her mouth and resumed chewing. She crushed the maggots with the rest of the things in her mouth and blended everything together with her teeth. This continued until her tongue burned from the mixture and a bitter taste tickled her tongue. She swallowed everything dry, water would be good but it was said that it only made the medicine less effective. Sobelle gagged when it finally went down her gullet.

She could not believe that she willingly did all of that just to stop the diseases of 5 goblins. FIVE.

'I hate this.' Really, no sane person wouldn't hate it. She threw on her clothes, headed to bed, and fell asleep. Her wounds did not itch when morning came so that must mean that what she did the night before worked. Sobelle didn't plan on changing her bandages yet, though she'd maybe do it later today. She could only hope that what meager savings she had was enough to buy more of them from the merchants. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Everyone outside was too busy screaming when she went out the door. Sobelle's mind cleared and she checked if the goblins had breached the walls but no, that didn't seem to be the case. A further observation led Sobelle to realize that the village had been attacked at dawn.

"Make more of them! Sharpen that wood!" The village chief yelled at a bunch of men as Sobelle got closer. The old man rushed over to her, "you said that you didn't complete the things you built outside?"

"Yeah, I still need to tie them all together—""Teach one of these men to do it! We can't waste any more time and you need to rest! The Goblins are getting bolder and I know that it won't be long before they come here with an actual army."

"Got it." With how hasty the chief was, Sobelle had no choice but to follow through with his request the second he asked her.

"Tell one of them to follow me, I'll teach them how to solidify the Palisades enough that even the bigger goblins won't break them down."

"You! Go with her!" The man the chief sent with Sobelle was silent as they made their way out of the village walls. She noticed that he'd gone pale once he saw the amount of goblins that were stuck to the sticks. Sobelle was slightly worried too, but her weakened state prevented her from feeling most of it. Instead, she was focused on fixing things.

"Get a rope long enough to tie three of them to each other." Sobelle turned to the man when he didn't leave.

"If you want to die, then sure, stay there. I'm not doing anything either. Let's all die." Gritted teeth and a gulp of fear was what he did in response to Sobelle's casual dismissal of his attitude but he thankfully left to do as told. When he came back, he threw the rope at Sobelle so that she had to pick it off the ground. He couldn't even bother to hide his hate? Seriously? Did he actually want to die?

"What are you doing? I'm not the one tying these things together. It needs to be you. Pick it up." This idiot really thought he was wise? He couldn't even grasp the situation even if he tried.

"Go on, pick it up and go to the palisades." Reluctantly, the man did what she said and after that, Sobelle taught him how to connect the sticks together using rope. This was not necessary most of the time as there was no way that a bunch of goblins or even peasants would be able to break through these things. But, some Goblins grew large enough that the Palisade would break before it could stab into their flesh.

Some humans also wore metal armor, which prevented them from being stabbed and made it easier to break down the structures. These ropes prevented all of that from happening. Sobelle stepped away after she taught the man what he needed to do. She bumped into the merchant's daughter.

"Sorry!"

"No, I'm sorry. It's just, I didn't look at what was behind me before I stepped back."

"No! It's on me! You're sick so I should have been more careful with you!"

"I guess you're right." Sobelle left things at that. She turned to the corpses and started counting. Next to her, the merchant's daughter looked on curiously.

'Six Palisades were used to kill goblins, and each one has six sticks. But usually only three would kill goblins since the other three faced the wall. So the best estimate of dead Goblins is what? 18?'

"Eighteen Goblins died last night?" She wanted there to be more, this barely made the cut and she was sure that the greenskins produced even more goblins overnight than the ones that had been killed here.

"13 actually. You missed it by five. I counted."

"I was making a guess." Sobelle turned to her peer.

"This isn't enough, is it?"

"No... Let me introduce myself, I am Chael." Chael flinched when Sobelle suddenly started laughing.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"No— it's just, I didn't think you'd introduce myself to me!" Sobelle took the offered hand and shook it.

"Sobelle. Pleasure to meet you."

"I could say the same thing." Chael pulled her arm back and looked at the Palisades.

"Hopefully, we get to kill all of them without casualties."

"Me too." Though Sobelle doubted it. Goblins were dangerous, and fighting an army of them always led to someone dying.

"We'll live, I know it." Chael pumped her fists and nodded.

"You'll see."

"You know—" Sobelle was about to tell her that hoping they'll live instead of actually doing something that will ensure their survival was stupid but her father called for her.

"I need to go."

"Okay, see you." Chael waved.

"There you are. Come, follow me." Her father was many things, but joking was not one of them. He rarely stopped taking things seriously, so when he led Sobelle to the back of the village, she expected some sort of scolding. Instead he handed her a spear, "You need to learn how to defend yourself. Can you carry that?"

"I can." The weight wasn't so bad.

"Good. Now watch me, and then copy it. After that, we'll spar for a few seconds and then you can go out to do your usual training."

"Okay."