Chương 36: Chapter 33

Chael was... Talkative. Now that Sobelle got to know her better, the young merchant just kept on talking. There wasn't a time when she didn't open her mouth to tell Sobelle about something, and most of them were things that Sobelle forgot about almost immediately anyway! Once she got going, Chael just talked about a lot of things.

And Sobelle, who believed it to be rude if the girl was interrupted, just listened to her talk about merchants, villages, numbers, monsters, cuisine, and a whole bunch of other stuff she had no real care for.

"Then we passed by the ruins of one of the Undying King's fortresses and slept here for a night! A night!" Chael exclaimed twice like Sobelle hadn't heard it the first time. She gestured strangely, "there were noises everywhere! And I could've sworn I saw a ghost at some point! But my medallion protected me and I came out alive."

"I've heard of ghosts but never encountered one, battlefields are supposed to be full of them, yes?" Weirdly enough, an interaction between the most monstrous creatures like greenskins or the Scaleage and apparitions of their victims never happened. No such story exists.

"Yeah. They are. I've seen a few of them roam Brine Bay and even spotted a few ghouls shambling around with them." Most of Chael's stories were something that Sobelle found hard to believe, but her opinion changed when it came to Brine Bay. Simply put, her father had told her stories of the living dead that walked above its sandy surface. Their cries and please audible to anyone who gets close enough. Ghosts in Brine Bay however... Was not something Sobelle expected to see.

It was also possible that some of the Ghouls had lost their bodies but not their will to live and so haunted the area with their remaining life force. It wasn't an impossible idea.

"Brine Bay and ghouls always come hand in hand, don't they?" Though they were commonly seen within that area, Ghouls were also present in places like tombs; where bodies heavily preserved in oil and other anti-rotting materials begin to rise from their permanent slumber to terrorize the world once more.

"Of course they are, where else are you supposed to see Ghouls but Brine Bay? That's like saying that Grand Serpents and the sea were always mentioned together. It's simply a natural part of life, you know?" On top of being rather talkative, Chael also had the habit of talking in a condescending way whenever Sobelle said something she wasn't sure of or topics that were usually considered to be common sense.

Sobelle wasn't quite the good conversationalist and even she knew that anyone in their right mind would play along or maybe joke about a relatively unknown topic. Rather than whatever it was that Chael did... Correct her in a condescending manner.

"I guess so." Luckily for Chael, Sobelle had the right amount of patience mixed with apathy that she did not care about the sheer arrogance the young merchant occasionally put up. Sobelle did check how much longer they had before they got to the village however, "it is common sense, isn't it?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Sobelle turned silent and waited for Chael to say something else. And this time, she knew that the girl was actually lying.

"I've been to the Gray Labyrinth once." The Gray Labyrinth being a sort of secret dungeon that people could only enter on accident. Very few people escaped such a place alive, and when they did, they often carried proof of their time within such a dangerous place. Artifacts, knowledge, diseases, and even skinwalkers that followed them back to this world. So many stories of the Gray Labyrinth had spread across the known world that everyone believed it to be true, Sobelle included.

It was a place that existed, and there was proof that it did. Myth has it that everyone came back from its stoney depths described the same features, even if these people never encountered each other before. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"And you escaped?" Sobelle was genuinely just curious how Chael would spin this story of hers.

"Yeah! It was hard but I actually managed to do it, I even encountered a skin walker once! Then I found this powerful artifact... That I lost on my way out—" Sobelle only nodded after that. She figured that some of Chael's stories were far too fantastical to be true, and she stands corrected. There was no way someone like her could ever survive the Gray Labyrinth, even Sobelle doubted her own chances. When it came to such a mysterious and dangerous place, it was safe to assume that you would never come out alive.

'I'd fight back if I ever get there, of course. But I don't think I can survive it.' Chael hadn't finished her story when they reached the village. She looked so disappointed as they walked through the gates. Sobelle believed this to be the end of things but Chael stopped her, "listen! Uhm... I'd love to forage with you again, okay?"

"Of course. Me too." While Chael was a bit of an annoyance verbally, she never tried to hurt Sobelle nor did she mean any harm. And that was much better compared to everyone else around here.

"I'll go back to foraging tomorrow morning, do you want me to wait for you?"

"No! I don't want you to see... Uhm... I mean, yes? You'll wait for me by the gate right?" What else could Chael possibly understand Sobelle's offer as? Of course she'd wait by the gate. Chael beamed as Sobelle nodded.

"That's great! I'll see you tomorrow!" Sobelle watched the over eager girl leave. If memory serves her right, then the merchants were staying close to the gates. She wondered just for how much longer they'd stay in the village and then chose to forget it and head home... Only to see the worst thing that could possibly happen to her, has happened. A day. No, less than a day even! It had been less than a day when her father left and already, her family did everything they could to make her life miserable.

Her siblings took all her belongings and played with them recklessly while Creyla only watched in amusement. Sobelle even saw some joy in those cruel eyes of hers. This was the last straw, the constant verbal spat? She could deal. That didn't hurt her at all. But this? This was a line they should never have crossed. And what if she actually came back in the evening? Would her own stuff just be trash by that point?! Sobelle walked inside, her head fuming from anger.

With reddened cheeks and wet, blurry eyes that constantly stung, Sobelle walked a straight line for her brother; who wore her leather chest piece while carrying her spear and proudly declaring that he was a goblin slayer. She suddenly punched him in the face hard enough to make him stagger. This caused everyone to stop.

"Sobelle you—" Dorsh stopped talking when he noticed that his mouth bled from a busted lip and one nostril spewed out a line of blood. He looked at her in horror.

"How dare you—" Sobelle had only gotten those two items days ago! And yet her spear was already cracked along the handle and her chest piece had cuts around the edges!

"Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

"Sobelle I—" Dorsh smirked. He had the audacity to smirk! She punched him again, then a second time to vent her frustration. He tried to push her off and fight back once she readied a third punch but found out he was far weaker than her. Sobelle relished the sudden fear in her brother's eyes once he realized he could not physically overpower her. Then she punched him the third time before ducking low to dodge the broomstick that Efree swung at her.

She wasted no movements and moved one of her legs in tandem with her rotating body. She had bent herself sideways to reach Efree and she successfully did; her fist connected with her sister's face and Efree screamed at her bleeding nose. She ran back to Creyla, giving time for Sobelle to punch her brother's face for the fourth time. Sobelle pulled herself off from her brother while breathing heavily. She turned to her remaining siblings and found them quaking in fear, a huff made them all flinch.

She was not satisfied. It was only really because she saw the tearful faces of Mazon and Ivess that she forced herself to stop, pick up her gear, and rush out of the house. She was done. She did not want to live there while her father was gone, if she did, she might really end up killing someone.

"Your father will hear of this Sobelle!" Creyla screamed while Efree cried next to her.

"You violent girl! I've always known you weren't right in the head!" The villagers stared at her. It was so painful. The way their eyes full of judgement followed her as she ran was simply unbearable. Sobelle's heart ached as she ran, her breathing was still heavy, but the reasons behind it had changed. She hiccuped as she knocked on the door to the chief's house. When it opened, the man got ready to punch the girl who tackled him only to stop once he realized that she started crying.