Chương 48: Chapter 45

Sobelle found a family of boars; three swinelets and one mother who cared for all of them simultaneously. Most people would consider this type of thing to be a blessing. Who didn't want to find such a large source of meat after all? This was a gold mine waiting to happen and Sobelle herself knew this. The village would have a guaranteed meal during winter if she were to successfully capture the three children as well.

She wanted to leave and find another animal to hunt, any other prey would be a better option than an aggressive swine mother who'd do anything to protect her young. The fight she was about to choose would be quite the difficult one, as boars did not care for any sort of damage or intimidation when they turned aggressive. But at the same time, Sobelle knew that she'd be able to kill this thing if she were to play things correctly. As she'd done so in the past already.

The axe Sobelle had kept hanging from her hip until now left its leash and she hefted while she reconsidered her decisions. She told herself that this was stupid, that this was different from killing a boar that had been abused and exhausted by greenskins moments prior, that the animal in front of her was full of energy and unbearably angry. It was going to let loose everything it had towards Sobelle and she'd have no choice but to be on the back foot once it started attacking.

She also told herself that this would hasten the production of food and act as a safeguard for future famines. The three swinelets in front of her could very well save the village from hunger once the greenskins came back and forced everyone to stay inside the walls for several days. They were old enough to walk, which meant they no longer needed to drink from their mother's teats. Independent young animals meant they could be fed without the need for their mother. Perfect for farms.

They could be bred too, which would increase the village's yield of meat and possibly even create an actual production of cattle within the village. Locally sourced meat; wasn't that something to dream about? But all of that was nothing more than delusion, things rarely go so well that plans become reality rather than theory. People were hard to figure out and raising a family of boars was the kind of thing that took time and effort.

Cattle were also fairly volatile in terms of profit, as they could get sick, die, and suffer a bunch of other things that led their owners to a massive loss of resources, time, and effort. Then again, maybe Chael had a solution to that. Sobelle decided that the mother boar would die and her young would be domesticated. She knew what she was going into when she chose to do this, and deemed that the value of the swinelets after she captured them more than made up for the risk to her life.

She readied her axe and bent low, then she placed the weapon on the ground and grabbed her dagger. [Flow State] activated and the world slowed to a crawl, Sobelle pulled her hand back and thrust it forward in the same motion. The dagger flew through the air and hit the boar in the neck. It missed. Eyes were a vital part of the body and striking them would cripple most things.

This was Sobelle's intended target before the boar suddenly charged and messed up her aim, which in the end caused her to hit another body part. And while necks were also good to hit, Sobelle aimed for the eyes to create a blindspot she could abuse. Now? The boar was moving with nothing but pure anger, it no longer cared for its life and would do anything to take Sobelle to the grave. Sobelle quickly picked up her axe and rose to the highest point she could stand.

She prematurely raised her weapon and swung downward, the boar was struck on the top of its head but it only staggered for a single second before it went back to attacking her. It squealed as it tilted its head upward and shoved its tusks into Sobelle's mid-point. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Clinking sounds went past the haze of Sobelle's [Flow State] as her ears processed the danger of her chainmail getting hit.

Thankfully, the armor lessened the damage but Sobelle could still feel the wounded parts of her skin, a tiny part of the tusks managed to go past the gaps in the chains and it made contact with Sobelle's flesh. The cut was shallow, but it had to be nursed properly if she didn't want to get infected.

"AGH!" Sobelle screamed the moment she held the handle of her axe and buried her feet into the ground. She used the weapon as a leverage that kept up with the boar's seemingly endless strength. Her knees ached from the pain of trying to match the power of something far stronger than her physically but they held on and there were no signs of breaking. The boar did not let up and it kept pumping its head upward in a continuous attempt to push its tusks deeper into Sobelle's gut.

Her chainmail was starting to bend so she was left with no choice but to release her right hand and then used it to pry the knife off the boar's throat. She stabbed the boar's eyes and then just kept going until her arms ached and her muscles burned. When the animal finally dropped, Sobelle did too. She let out an exhausted whine that was riddled with pain while lifting her shirt, she checked the state of her stomach and just as she thought; there was a lot of blood.

Her underside was soaked in crimson and the heavy blood loss made her mind lose focus. She stood up anyway, because stopping now only meant she was giving up. Sobelle ripped off the rope she tied around her wrist and used that to tie the boar's leg together before hanging it on the branch of a tree. Once the boar was secured, Sobelle moved to track the swinelets that had escaped during the right. They hadn't gone far and capturing them was as easy as running and then lunging once she got close enough.

One by one, she got the young animals and tied their mouths and legs with more rope. She was right, having an excess of rope was a good idea since she never knew when she'd need it. The squealing swines were loud and continued to worsen Sobelle's weakening mental state, they also flailed so bringing them back to camp was an absolute pain.

Sobelle was already on the verge of collapse when she reached the campsite, but she managed to bring the boar and the swinelets into it so she believed it to be worth it in the end. Chael rushed towards her as soon as she saw Sobelle, she said things that weren't audible but her worried face was all Sobelle needed to see to know that she was in good hands. She hoped that she'd wake up without any long lasting damages, otherwise it'd be harder for her to... For her to...

The last thought that came to Sobelle's mind were the greenskins winning and capturing everyone in the village. She did not like it and the stress she felt continued even during her sleep, another vision of a world where she was powerless came to her and the Goblins just continued to abuse her. They were relentless in how they treated her and never stopped even after Sobelle became a bloated thing that wasn't quite alive, but wished it was dead. Sobelle gasped and rose from the straw bed Chael placed her on.

She looked around, her face ridden with sweat. She wiped them off and assessed her surroundings, she felt relieved when she saw that she was back at camp. Those visions were always so vivid that she never knew what was real and what wasn't.

"You had a nightmare huh?" Chael sat to her left, by her knees was a clay bowl and on her hands was a piece of fabric. Sobelle saw that the color of the wool was the same as her shirt, she suddenly felt cold and looked down to see that she was naked.

"Uhm... I had to take off your shirt to nurse your wounds, but don't worry! I didn't pry the bandages around your chest."

"Why would that be a bad thing?" Sobelle didn't get how that was Chael's priority of all things. She checked her wounds and saw that fish skin, herbs, and egg whites have now been placed all over them.

"What is this?"

"I'm healing you, the fish skin is to close the wounds, the herbs are to numb the pain, and the egg whites are there to encourage healing in the deeper reaches of your wound." Sobelle's face turned cold. She felt her lips lose their heat as Chael's words sunk in; the wounds were deep? Wasn't that bad?

"Don't worry, it isn't something you need to worry about. I'm sure you'll be able to heal in no time. You'd have to stop training for a while though." Chael expected Sobelle to agree so the girl's response took her by surprise.

"I can't do that." Sobelle did not wish to forsake the Gods' routine, that was sacrilege and she was not a heathen.