Chương 68: Chapter 64

When they got to the village, the first thing Sobelle noticed was that it was empty. There was a field of grains on one side of it, and they looked to have been halfway through maturity. Yet there was no farmer or farmhand that tended to them when normally, this phase of the field's lifecycle needed constant observation.

"Something's wrong." Sobelle commented as she watched their wagon's blessed fire erupt into a miniature explosion. She still wasn't sure how it worked, but Sobelle had a feeling that this only happened when the spirits that protected her fought her curse.

'This never happened until now, and the reaction is very similar to the first time I created a shrine for protection.' She hadn't bothered to create yet another shrine using candles, but if she did, Sobelle had a feeling that the wax wouldn't have melted up until this point in their journey. She silently added more fuel to the fire, and even fed it some meat as an offering. She hoped it was enough to encourage the spirits.

"Mm. The village seems suspiciously empty. We need to be careful." Chael watched Sobelle offer a sacrifice to their protector wordlessly. She gulped in fear but did not let it control her, "will you protect me?"

"Of course." Sobelle readily confirmed. Did Chael think she'd just run away at the first sign of danger? She wouldn't leave Chael, if anything, Sobelle was happy if the opposite were to happen.

"I'll protect you even if it costs me my life."

"Don't say something like that." Chael hissed out a warning. Sobelle caught her eyes turning glossy just before the merchant turned away with a huff.

"I wouldn't want you to die for me."

"I won't." Sobelle reassured without much thought. She didn't think that the ones responsible for ruining the village were anything particularly dangerous, as the houses would have been ruined otherwise.

"I think I can fight whatever turned this village empty, if they are Goblins, then it makes things easier." And the signs that this was caused by an attack from a tribe of greenskins were present even from this distance. Though Sobelle wouldn't assume this unless she confirmed it for herself, the signs that she was seeing could come from trolls or even kobolds for all she knew. It wasn't until Sobelle stepped foot into the village that she confirmed the presence of greenskins.

Her eyes went to the ruins of a nearby house. The structure was built on the outskirts of a village, and was big enough to house a family the size of 6. There were two rooms in total, one was the bedroom, and the other was the common room, which had a hearth, a work station, and what could only be a kitchen. A ruined chest sat comfortably on the corners of both the common room and the bedroom, but they had been burnt and emptied. Sobelle assumed the Goblins had looted everything they could from the place.

These details combined spoke of a sinister methodology that involved arson and actions so cruel, they broke down the will of the defenders and left the village defenseless. More importantly, there was a nest of bugs on the floor. And when she got close to it, she realized this had once been a person; but gone were the common features a human possessed, and all that's left was a bloated corpse infested with insects that were somehow resistant to fire.

Sobelle grabbed one of these tiny creatures, and realized they were winged scorpions. Its carapace was onyx, with a hint of dusty brown along the edges. They had six legs and a pair of pincers snapping at anything that dared to stand in front of them. A tail tipped with a powerful stinger wagged up and down, it attempted to stab Sobelle and failed miserably. A pair of transparent wings buzzed behind the creature, creating a small gust that was just strong enough to be felt by Sobelle's wrist.

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"Ihuteps." She murmured. She'd seen one of these every so often, and knew that their work often left trees full of holes.

"Since when did they target humans?"

"Sometimes they do that if they find a fresh corpse." Chael helpfully informed from behind her. Sobelle noticed she was rubbing her arms up and down. There were goosebumps on her skin.

"But I have a feeling this person wasn't dead when they first landed."

"He wasn't, no." Sobelle shook her head. The marks left behind by the insects in the carbonized flesh indicated they had been in the body far before this guy got the sweet release of death.

"They turned him into a nest when he was still alive."

"... A curse?" Chael's eyes watered. Whether or not it was because of fear or discomfort, Sobelle couldn't tell. She concluded that it must have been from both.

"It could only be from a curse, yes. That or his body started to rot first, leaving it defenseless and allowing the bugs to come and start nesting." That too was another likely possibility, Sobelle wouldn't put it past the greenskins to do something so heinous in the name of pillaging.

"But how could... He was bitten?" Chael's features contorted to one of disgust before she turned away and puked out her breakfast. She wiped her mouth, "I hate that my mind can picture what happened."

"That's good, my mother says it means you're smart." Sobelle comforted the merchant with a small smile. She rubbed Chael's back, "let's go check out the other parts of the village. If there are more corpses that ended up like this one, then I think we've found our shaman." Sobelle crushed the bug she was holding and threw the corpse like it was worthless. The action was enough to increase Chael's mood and the merchant smiled upon seeing it.

Together, the two of them went around the village and confirmed that the corpses were indeed riddled with winged scorpions. Which was a sign of a curse rather than a natural plague. This breed of insect rarely nested in the corpse of humans. So them nesting into rotting, but still living people were even rarer. At this scale? Almost impossible without some form of intelligent intervention. Sobelle stepped out of the last house and shook her head at Chael, "it's the same as the other corpses.

I think we're dealing with a shaman, and that greenskin cursed this place."

"I-is that so? Do you think you've also been cursed by it?" Chael's question was, of course, understandable. But she was also wrong.

"It was possible that it wasn't your..."

"Think about it, Chael." Sobelle looked the merchant in the eye.

"If a goblin shaman cursed me, do you think it'll just stick with bad luck? No, it would have sent the wraiths that it bound to attack me. Or sent a devastating plague that'd strike the entire village, but I was the only one who got cursed."

"Yes... Maybe you are right." Chael conceded, she smiled weakly.

"I do think that it is unfair that you experienced it, but I worry for everyone else. They're defenseless back there, aren't they?"

"Then they should have thought of that before they decided to choose Efree's side." Sobelle glowered. She really didn't see why she needed to feel pity for the villagers who had taken the side of the sister who cursed her instead of the one who got cursed. She moved past Chael and walked inside the house they had previously explored. There were two occupants here; one was a burnt mass of charcoal filled with insects and the other was a woman whose legs were stuck spread out.

Sobelle grabbed both and carried them to the center of the village, where she then proceeded to do the same thing to all the other corpses found within the ruined settlement. This was her way of paying respects. There were tools the greenskins left behind, and one of them was an intact shovel. Sobelle used that to dig through the dirt, and occasionally, she'd use her stone spear in place of a pikestaff whenever she encountered a cluster of solid ground. Half an hour later Sobelle stood over a massive pit.

It was big enough to fit all the corpses within it, and she planned on throwing them all into it and then burning them as a funeral so that they didn't rise from the dead. A quest appeared just as she was about to burn the corpses, and she raised an eyebrow when she read the whole thing. [Where you are is the perfect place to create a magical tool! It is ripe with spirits who want vengeance, and their energies are not directed at you specifically. If you can convince them to bless a tool that you have made, then you would be granted a powerful artifact that possesses immense magical might. Search for clues! Maybe your companion has knowledge on how to make it? Maybe the village has enough materials for a powerful weapon? Maybe you have the will and knowledge to properly make it? Just do your best and you'll succeed!] Magical tools were things she'd only heard about in passing, and usually, they were only spoken about by mad men or con artists.

But if the Gods tell her that it was possible for her to make it then...

"Sobelle? We have a problem." Chael cut Sobelle's train of thought. The merchant pointed at the distant treeline, where the undergrowth was constantly disturbed by the humanoid shapes that moved within them.

"I thought I saw movement when I was checking the houses for loot, and I was right. There are greenskins watching us."