Chương 38: Chapter 35

Sobelle hadn't gotten any new stats after she finished her exercise, she expected to but she supposed that the ones she got while she fought the goblins were a gift from the Gods and an outlier that may possibly never repeat. She was tempted to go out and hunt Goblins now that she knew the village wasn't as safe as she wanted it to be. Was she still scared of the greenskins and what they might do to her should she ever get captured? Of course.

But what everyone in the village did to her was somehow worse than anything the greenskins could come up with. And Sobelle wasn't even exaggerating when she said this either; it was one thing to be physically hurt by monsters during a fight, but for everyone she knew to shun her to the point that they entertained the thought of stoning her? That was the kind of pain that shattered one's soul. She had defended them and yet it was repaid with scorn and hatred.

The betrayal they had struck her back with was simply worse than the confrontational threat the goblins posed, at least in Sobelle's opinion. Sobelle had nothing in her mind but to kill something then and there, and so she didn't notice when someone followed her from the massive field and into the forest. Where she was then further tailed until she and her stalker reached the forest river where Sobelle built her camp, it was when she was eating a strip of smoked boar meat that she noticed someone in the bushes.

She stood up and warily watched the person who dared observe her. Silence was the only thing that occurred for the next few seconds, and yet somehow, that was even worse. Sobelle's heart raced as her mind pushed various possibilities into her thoughts; what if this was a Goblin? What if this was someone from the village? What if it was something worse than the first two? Sobelle's breathing heightened and she bent down to pick up a rock.

She held it tightly and walked to the bushes that she was forced to throw the rock at when they suddenly moved. She missed and the one watching her got up with her hands in the air.

"I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to do that!" Chael. It was Chael. The young merchant had chosen to stalk Sobelle instead of approaching her, and now the girl knew the location of the camp.

"I... I was just worried! I thought you'd run off and fight goblins to prove yourself instead of going back here and eating? That looks delicious, what is that?"

"Boar meat." Sobelle hadn't bothered to mention that it was the good kind, and the parts that were specifically full of fat while simultaneously having no parasites.

"I smoked them for preservation, they're a few days old."

"That still looks delicious." Chael left her hiding place and walked up to Sobelle. She scanned the camp once she was close enough and nodded, impressed.

"I didn't know you made an entire camp out here! It looks comfortable!" Chael walked to the shaded area that Sobelle called her resting place.

"Is this a hammock?! It smells like you— ehehe..." The merchant flinched and corrected her posture. She pointed accusingly at Sobelle.

"You've been keeping this from all of us."

"Yes." Sobelle didn't even try to deny it. Chael already knew about the camp so what was the point? She couldn't just say that she found this one day and decided to keep it.

"I have. I needed a place to rest that wasn't the village so I made one in the forest. Is it that impossible?"

"No, not really... It is weird how you eat meat every day though, you've been catching them yourself?" Chael sat in front of Sobelle and it became clear what the young merchant wanted.

"Meat is pretty expensive, especially ones without any parasites or diseases. You eating it every single day is a bit unfair you know?"

"Do you want some?" Sobelle took a strip and offered it to the girl. Who took it with glee.

"You can tell everyone about this place if you want, I don't mind." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Because you'll just move to another spot." Chael got no response but she knew that this was what Sobelle thought.

"I knew it."

"They'll find it eventually." Sobelle had no doubts that if the villagers wanted, then they'd be able to scour the forest. And although her camp was located in the deeper reaches of the woods, it didn't mean that it was impossible to find.

"You making that quicker won't really change much in the end."

"As if anyone is stupid enough to come here." Chael scoffed and ate a large piece of her strip in a single bite.

"There are goblins out in the forest, everyone is too scared to come out of the walls. Other than you, that is."

"And is there anything wrong with that?" Sobelle waited for the inevitable yes and the explanation that she wasn't meant to fight or even stay in forests but it never came.

"No? I think it's pretty interesting. Personally, seeing someone like you actually do things instead of holing herself up behind the walls thinking it'll keep her safe is... Much better for me. You're brave. I like that." Chael's admission and following speech did not sound fake but Sobelle chose to take it with a grain of salt.

"So you won't tell anyone about this?" When it came down to it, this was the only thing that mattered. Sobelle may not care about the villagers discovering her camp, but she was still scared that they would think that she ate meat and peacefully slept in the forest every time she disappeared. She'd get even more hatred from them if that were to happen.

"No! Of course not!" Chael choosing to keep things secret made Sobelle feel relieved. This was what she wanted; for Chael to not go and spread rumors about her eating meat every single day.

"We're going to live here together."

"Live here together?" Sobelle couldn't have hidden the sarcasm in her tone if she tried. What kind of offer even was that? And why would Chael even stay here?

"You want to stay here with me and what? Pretend like we're in a happy home instead of a forest infested with greenskins?"

"Well, the Goblins haven't really gotten that high in terms of numbers yet." Chael rightfully corrected before making her points sound more appealing to Sobelle.

"And think about it, if I was here, you wouldn't just eat meat everyday, you'd also be eating foraged plants!"

"I don't think that's a good enough deal." So what if she didn't eat foraged plants? The meat was often enough to fill her stomach. But Sobelle chose to entertain the young merchant in the end, "what else can you possibly offer me that would make this thing appealing?"

"Uh, I can help clean the place?" Chael must truly be desperate to offer something like that.

"I know how to clean and do chores! You know, get the insects out!"

"This is a forest, it doesn't need cleaning." And the reason why Sobelle chose to sleep in a hammock in the first place was to stop snakes and insects on the ground from crawling onto her while she slept.

"Like I said, there is no offer that would make me want to choose for you to stay."

"Then I'll tell everyone about this place." What a stupid threat, Sobelle already said that she didn't care if this camp were discovered by the village.

"I don't care. Do it if you wish." Like that was an issue, the villagers may hate her more because of it but she no longer cared. They'd hate her no matter what.

"Mmmmm..." Chael groaned in frustration and paused to think about all the things she could offer for the chance to stay. She came up with nothing so she did the next best thing: begging. She went on her knees, "please! Let me stay! I swear I'll be useful! Please!"

"Useful? How?"

"Cooking? Cleaning? Butchering?! I'll do it! Pleaseeeeee—" Sobelle actually felt pity for the girl because of how she desperately begged. And if she promised to actually do a lot of work while being in the camp then letting her stay would only benefit Sobelle, this was on top of her keeping the location secret. So, as much as it pained her to have another person staying in a place that should have been hers and hers alone; Sobelle agreed and let Chael stay.

"Wait, you mean it?!" Chael made a show of wiping her eyes with her sleeve but Sobelle knew she wasn't crying. She lunged and hugged Sobelle, "Thank you so much!"

"Why do you want to stay so badly anyway?" Sobelle eventually chose to return the hug and wrapped her arms around the back of the grateful Chael.

"I don't see anything you can do that will be useful around here. Or even why you'd want to be here to begin with."

"I just want to build up my own resources in preparation for when I need to leave my father's wings and set off on my own." How Chael said it implied she had been thinking about this for a while now, and that it was a decision she made a long time ago. Wait what? Chael wanted to leave her father? Sobelle thought that it was a bad choice but didn't verbally call it out. Chael must have her own circumstances if she wanted to do something like that.