Chương 60: Chapter 56

"I'm feeling kind of sad." Chael commented as she looked at the faraway walls of the village. They had just left the forest and were now on the road. The same one where Chael and her family were previously attacked.

"I just... I don't know, I think that they don't deserve it, the goblins are still in the forest and they are in danger."

"It's fine." Sobelle really couldn't care less about them anymore. If they wanted to push her away, then they'd succeeded. She was sure that those people could take care of themselves. It was none of her business if they couldn't.

"They can worry about the goblins all on their own, if I can do it by myself, then surely a village of men could too."

"R-right. Maybe you're right." Chael nodded. She exhaled, as if that was enough to make her forget about the potential danger the greenskins posed to the village.

"Everything is going to be fine! The town has a lot of capable people, I'm sure you're not the only one who can hunt down goblins on a daily basis! Right?"

"Right." Sobelle chose to end the conversation here. She looked forward and gazed at the field ahead, all she saw was green. It almost felt like it was the only thing that existed outside of the village.

"How far does this road go?"

"Pretty far." Chael unfurled something and showed it to Sobelle.

"See here?" She pointed to a tiny, lonely dot surrounded by mountains, trees, and rivers. It was the only one of its kind, and strayed far from the countless dots scattered across the parchment, "this is where we are, and this..." Chael pointed to a giant circle, inside are simple words like meat, linen, ores, sugar, fruits, and vegetables, as well as a few others. It was next to the sea, which had an arrow pointed directly at the circle. The line also had words on the top and bottom of it.

Written around the arrow's body were simple goods such as sea shells, limestone, fish, pearls, ivory, gravel, sand, corals, scales, and serpent meat.

"Serpent meat?" Sobelle couldn't help but ask. She'd heard of sea serpents before, and even saw one coiled around something when she went with her father to go to the other side of the forest during one particularly hot season but to think these things were eaten...

"Yes, serpent meat. They're a good source of meat since some of them can grow far larger than ships, butchering such a giant creature means that several cities could eat for months." Chael's explanation shed some light on why it was written there. Though Sobelle felt that the answer was obvious, she asked because of another reason.

"I thought it was going to be turned into oil." She'd heard rumors in the past that great sea beasts were often turned into oil, and that to capture them often took the lives and limbs of humans. She believed the same went for the serpent, "do they not turn sea beasts into oil?"

"Oh no, they do." Chael corrected, she pointed at a faraway part of the map.

"This is the port city where whales and sharks are butchered and oiled, they're the ones responsible for such an export, meanwhile, UnThilen is a port city that exports farming stuff while importing things from the sea!"

"Can we go there then? I wanna see these great sea beasts... Or whales, as you call them." Sobelle was told that such creatures were simply titanic, that they were bigger than houses, and that they could rival towns in size.

"Can we go there after we go to UnThilen?"

"No, we can't." Chael's denial made Sobelle frown.

"Alibot is way too far, it'd take us at least a season and a half to reach it. Not worth it unless we plan to live as nomads. Or if we plan to go there with the intent to settle down."

"That doesn't look that far." Sobelle measured the distance with her eyes and felt that it really wasn't. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"It is. Trust me. Not only is this map not to scale, so some villagers are actually farther than they look, but you need to take into account that the things you see on this parchment are not as flat as they are in reality." Chael pointed at a space between UnThilen and Alibot.

"There are forests, rivers, lakes, bandit territories, monster dens, and so much more between these two cities."

"Oh, I see." Sobelle wasn't sure just how valid Chael's words were, but since the merchant had traveled far more than her, Sobelle chose to believe it.

"Then we can just stop in UnThilen and we can see where we need to go from there."

"... Do you want to go around selling things?" Chael suddenly asked her.

"I'm sorry?" Sobelle had to stop and look at the merchant. What did Chael mean by that? She wasn't sure.

"What do you mean if I want that? I don't. I've told you, I want to be a knight, and be a savior people look up to."

"... That's the thing. Sobelle." Chael inhaled. She looked at the sky and laughed, "the world isn't as easy as you think it is. When you eventually become a knight, if somehow that was possible, then you'd find yourself bored of the monotonous routine of going out, patrolling, and whatever else it is that knights do. Over and over again."

"I don't understand." Sobelle was even more confused than she was moments prior.

"I'm saying nothing interesting happens to Sobelle. I am being serious, knights spend years watching castle walls and training. That's it. You don't fight bandits, you don't save the world, you stay in the castle to defend. That is your job, you're not some hero, you're a guard. And guards do not leave their post vulnerable." It was a lengthy rant, but it explained things to Sobelle quite well.

"Then I become a mercenary, assuming that I do stay in my post." Sobelle wasn't quite sure if Chael told her the truth of things.

"I did, kings do not permit their knights to leave because it'd leave the castle defenseless. What do you think knights do?" Chael gave out a question Sobelle wasn't quite sure how to answer.

"You don't know anything other than them knowing how to fight and being clad in armor, don't you? What a shallow understanding of them."

"No." Sobelle realized that Chael was right, how she understood the knights she had idolized really were shallow.

"I don't know anything about them, I don't know anything about the world outside the village, really."

"Well, welcome to the real world. Where food supplies can run low, wars can break out, and countless other lives are part of an intricate web of coin and gossip. Living here is hard, and honestly, you'd be better off if you lived in a village as closed off as yours. It is quite brutal out here."

"Now you are just scaring me." Sobelle giggled. Was it as bad as Chael said it was? She didn't think so.

"Will I meet knights when we get to UnThilen?"

"You'll see them, but meeting them is impossible since they'll be holed up beyond the walls, constantly watching their posts." Chael snapped her fingers as realization struck her.

"That or they train for war, tensions are quite high between cities nowadays, so it isn't all that strange to see some lords preparing their footsoldiers."

"Oh okay." Sobelle didn't know what to think of that.

"Do we... Have to do anything about it?"

"No, it's fine. Petty skirmishes between lords is not that strange to see, and the enemy territory is so far from here that it is pointless to worry about them since we wouldn't see the ravages of war for at least a few years." Chael closed her map and reached for a grass stalk nearby. She whipped it around playfully.

"Not that a war would ever start anyway, the Spirit Lord would ensure that everything is peaceful, as no sane kingdom would want to go against someone so powerful."

"The Spirit Lord huh?" Sobelle had heard that name for the second time. And she still wasn't sure what it meant.

"What is he?"

"A man so attuned to the spirits he controls the strongest of them all. Rumor has it that he has treelvish blood running through his blood but I don't believe them, those things couldn't breed with humans and reproduce by growing from the ground. I've seen it myself."

"He sounds terrifying." Could she ever get to such heights? Sobelle shook her head. It was up to the Gods to bless her if they saw it fit, she shouldn't compare herself to anybody.

"He is. He's ended wars all by himself, and according to the king, he's raided a dwarven stronghold and came out on top. That is why we sometimes get deals from the chirping bastards. Because they have made a mistake in the past and are trying to lessen the weight of their sins by helping out." The more Chael talked about the man known as the Spirit Lord, the more curious Sobelle got about his existence. She herself couldn't end wars alone, yet this man could?

What kind of power did he wield for that to be possible?

"Do you need help with pulling that wagon?" Chael suddenly asked.

"No, it's fine." Sobelle got out of her thoughts and quickly answered. Thanks to her skills, she barely felt the weight of the wagon.

"I can move this wagon all on my own for a long while."