Chương 32: Chapter 29

Crying. Of course he'd be crying. Why had Sobelle expected anything else? The fact of the matter is; if someone were to lose their loved one—especially their wife—and worried for them for days after doing so, then it'd all come crashing down the moment they see that the person they cared for looked like... Like... Her thoughts went back to the women's appearances and it took everything for her to stop the ensuing panic.

Now the memory of them was deeply engraved into Sobelle's mind and she feared that she wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon. Sobelle's fists clenched in frustration. She wanted to scream at this weakness she felt.

"You did good finding this kid, if the Goblins kept this we'd have an even bigger problem in our hands." The chief's words failed to reassure her. The small relief that Sobelle felt at the thought of being saved from the greenskins' clutches for even a moment did not do much.

"Yeah." Sobelle flinched when the sound of a roaring flame erupted around her. She dared look at the camp and saw that the women have now been burnt. That was the fate that awaited her if she were to ever be captured.

"You decided to burn them?"

"We had no choice but to do that." One of the men said as he stopped next to the chief.

"Their corpses were wasting away and they'd only feed the goblins who'd go back here if they were kept intact. It was better to remove their corpses, maybe that way the Gods above would take mercy on them and their kin."

"I understand." Sobelle didn't even bother to do it. She forgot about the explanation a few seconds later, that was how much she believed it to be irrelevant. And it really was useless to know the reasons behind burning corpses. In the end, Sobelle was just glad she didn't have to see them ever again. Maybe her mind could finally rest after this, the memories of how the bloated bodies came back just as she thought of this. Okay, so it won't be happening anytime soon, then. She expected that much.

"Let's go." Saltor patted his daughter's back and looked behind him to signal everyone else to lag behind. Sobelle remained unaware even as the two of them went ahead, it was only when her father started talking that she realized they were alone.

"I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, then." She did not know what it was about but her father seemed gravely serious so she chose to keep her mouth shut and listened. It must be important if her father acted like this.

"I'm going to leave for Grinnen." That was it? She expected to have some kind of talk about how what she saw was going to last and that her feelings were valid but also something she could move past. Instead he told her that he'd be leaving.

"You know how long it takes for me to travel between our village and that town right?"

"Three and a half days each time. Making a total of a week for you to make a full trip." And that was without any setbacks along the road. But the goblins could not realistically increase their numbers in the timeframe after their loss and so the roads should be safe.

"Yes, a week." Saltor gripped Sobelle's shoulders tightly.

"I will be gone for a week, I do not know what kind of problems you will have during that time, but I want you to be in your best behavior. Do not mistreat our family."

"Of course." Mistreat their family? Did her father listen to the same dinner conversations Sobelle experienced? She was the one who was going to get mistreated, not the other way around.

"I won't do that."

"Good. Because it'd be bad if you ended up making things even more chaotic while the village is recovering Sobelle." He rubbed her head affectionately but all Sobelle felt was the touch of an ignorant fool who did not see the problems his own daughter faced.

"And please understand it when people are mad, we just finished cleaning up the feces the goblins threw at us, it is only normal they are irritated." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! And she wasn't? She'd fought those Goblins from start to finish! She did not just risk her life, but her own body! What if she was captured? What then? He probably wouldn't care as much compared to if someone like Efree were to be taken in by the greenskins!

"Sobelle?"

"Oh, yes. Father. I will do that." Sobelle unclenched her fists and gave him a wonderful smile. How nice of him to worry about everyone else while his own daughter silently suffered.

"Good. You are smart, you can do so many things! All you have to do is focus on yourself while ignoring everyone else." What he just said was possibly the stupidest thing Sobelle has ever heard. How could she focus on herself if everyone else went out of their way to hurt her? Did he think she could just do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted? People disturbed her for the smallest inconvenience that happened to them, and she couldn't do anything about it.

"Of course." Sobelle agreed without thinking. Because that was what her father wanted to hear, anything else only made him mad because she needed to be mature compared to everyone else. She lowered herself to the level of all the other villagers constantly, and quite frankly, it felt exhausting to continue doing it. If one were to constantly bend downward, wouldn't they be tired too? How can her father not see that? She didn't want to be the one who always understood others, she wanted to be understood too.

"See? This is why I think you're better than your siblings, you are smart." Saltor laughed and slowed down their pace. It allowed everyone else to finally keep up with them. Sobelle kept her silence on the whole way back to the village. She still smiled at her father whenever he addressed her but that was the only thing she did. Doing anything else felt like a waste of energy and she did not want to put effort into something like that.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow." Saltor assured her just before she went to bed.

"Good luck being on your own for once, daughter."

"I'll be fine. Thank you." The sudden surge of fear that gripped Sobelle's heart as she responded thankfully did not change the tone of her voice. She headed to bed without anyone knowing how she truly felt. Sobelle closed her eyes and entered a world she had never seen before. Here, she was helpless against the green tide that descended upon their village, she had no system and the villagers slowly died out from the attacking greenskins until finally...

'No.' Sobelle shifted in her sleep, she violently moved her wrists to resist the greenskins grabbing it within her nightmare. The force did not wake her up, but it hit the bedframe and made her little brother flinch.

'NO!' Sobelle was grabbed, she was forced to do things she did not want. She was helpless against the iron grip of the goblins, all she heard were cries of pain around her, followed by the sharp cackling of the greenskins who saw them as nothing more than toys to discard once they've had their fun. Tears welled up in Sobelle's eyes once she saw herself begin to swell within the nightmare. She constantly begged for everything to stop, but it didn't.

The nightmare kept going and she got bigger until she was no different from the women in that camp. Sobelle shot up and touched her stomach.

"Not pregnant. I'm not pregnant." She let out a sigh of relief and shuddered. She wiped her face.

"I'm not..." A small laugh came out without her consent. She did not want to laugh like this, it was night and everyone was asleep. But the thought of being safe from the grasp of those monsters triumphed over Sobelle's sense of logic and she laughed anyway. She covered her mouth when she was done and fell asleep. She had no clue why this happened, just that it did. What even was that? A vision of a crueller world?

Sobelle was glad that she lived in this one, where the Gods blessed her and she defended her village from such a cruel fate. Come morning, Sobelle watched with the rest of her family as her father left. They all stood outside the gate, every single one was in a state of drowsiness that ranged from being strangely awake like their step mother, or close to sleep like her little brother and sister Mazon and Ivess. But more than anything, everyone was happy.

Sobelle calmly watched as her father's back disappeared in the brightening horizon, and soon, he and his borrowed horse disappeared entirely. Gone for the town of Grinnen, where they were supposed to ask for aid from mercenaries to help defend against the growing goblin army in the forest next door. But before that goblin army could ever come, Sobelle had to first deal with her family. And she could already tell they were going to take advantage of her father's absence. She knew.