Chapter 61
“On the brink of death.” Part 5
-Call Caranthir. And tell him I need to speak with him -Ardrach frowned at the saintess’ words, but nodded, agreeing to the request of the woman who had saved his comrades’ lives despite the great distrust that had always existed against the faerie.
Some soldiers had objected when Caranthir had said he would bring her, as it was well known that fairies never did a favor for free and were beings full of cunning that always found a way to take advantage of any deal made or twist it according to their whims, however, the saintess had seemed quite tolerable to him. So he acceded to her demands and approached one of the mages in his charge, and asked him to send a message to Caranthir through his fire magic.
Besides, he couldn’t help but feel guilty, as his efforts had not been enough to keep her safe. And he was terrified at the thought of what the faeries would do to his people if they let their saintess die through simple carelessness. And they had come close enough to losing her.
More than once.
The best thing was for her to return and heal the wounded from the shelter. Then they could all concentrate solely on defeating the army that was only half a kilometer away from invading their kingdom.
***
And while Kalysto waited, she watched the warriors at the bottom of the hill, fighting fiercely against the legion of monsters in the wide valley surrounded on the right and left by lush trees and two thick forests. And although they were doing very well for the few, they were compared to the enemy, the problem was those small groups of monsters that seemed to be made of solid petroleum, some even dripping with the black liquid as if they had just bathed in it.
The sight itself was quite unpleasant.
The smaller ones, however, some of them the size of a goblin but with flat noses, looked like muscular latex-clad men ready for an S&M session.
There was no way those elves, no matter how good they were at fighting, could survive a close encounter with those monsters. Not with the way those who were about two meters tall could modify the shape of their arms and turn them into weapons that, with a single cut, could infect others with the black plague. Most curious of all was that they themselves, the monsters, seemed immune to the dangerous disease.
How is that possible? She questioned, though she also found it strange how extremely fast the elves seemed to catch the plague, and how it spread so quickly through their bodies. Perhaps most of the fairies I cured earlier were not infected directly? But then she herself had been infected twice, and both times although she acted quickly, the black veins that popped out around the wound were much thinner and did not spread across her face, as had happened to the elves who were infected when they were ambushed. Is it because we are of different races? And while she couldn’t use Jhil’s ability on herself, she had been able to heal without it. But that had not been the case with the elves. And the fairies had been infected several days before so it’s impossible for me to compare the situation.
Kalysto let out a big sigh, and stretched her neck from side to side, wanting to be able to take some potion to remove the excess fatigue that was already weighing on her shoulders, but the strong migraine that came with the continuous overuse of her abilities was killing her. So it was better to wait and drink some holy water, or the pain would end up immobilizing her.
But that was not her only problem.
On the one hand, moving freely among the horde of monsters and purifying the “foci of infection” was something she could not do alone.
She needed Caranthir for that.
The problem was that she was no longer sure if she could trust him, or the king. Not after she found out that they weren’t even inside their kingdom, so technically she had already finished her mission, even though the system hadn’t given her any warning about it yet.
On the other hand, she had already been on the verge of dying too many times in the last few days and, being honest, she needed a break. Between healing the fairies and the elves, she had barely had time to sleep, but even though she got up very early every morning and went to bed even later, she was tired all the time.
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And yet they want me to raise my enchantment profession to level 10 in less than a week. She reminded herself.
And while part of her wanted to leave and focus solely on finishing the three quests as payment for saving her life, another part of her felt bad for leaving them to their fate alongside those monsters in black. Plus all the points she would lose by not killing the monsters.
It would be like killing two birds with one stone. She thought. But it’s been less than four days since I almost died at the hands of an orc. Is it really worth risking my life for a bunch of strangers I don’t know if I can trust? She questioned herself. I don’t want to die.
Especially since she knew there was a smarter way to do things.
And she let out a long sigh again.
I’m too tired to think clearly. And at that moment her stomach growled, remembering that despite working all day, she had only eaten a light breakfast in the fairy territory.
Again, the elves forgot to offer even a glass of water. And it must be close to four o’clock in the afternoon by now. So, while waiting, she turned her back to the elves and slyly took out half a bread that she had not finished eating during breakfast, fearing that she would not have enough time for everything she had to do that day. Next time I’ll make sure to eat properly no matter who is waiting for me.
And just as she took out a thel and took a bite, wanting to reduce some of the overtiredness she had, Caranthir’s voice interrupted her.
“Can’t you see I’m busy? I don’t have time to play babysitter with a fairy.”
“ I’m human, in case you hadn’t noticed. I thought your brother had informed you of that little detail.”
“My brother doesn’t keep me informed of everything he does. I’m not his babysitter," he replied, crossing his arms as he watched her eat and snorted. “I can’t believe you would dare eat something in a situation like this.”
“And I can’t believe I’ve almost been killed and crushed by monsters more than four times since you brought me here. One of them went right through my chest. I was lucky, a couple more inches to the left, and I’d be dead,” she growled at him, annoyed by his attitude, and put the rest of the fruit away in her inventory. Feeling uncomfortable eating in front of him with the sullen attitude he was showing her.
“You’re a saintess. You just need to heal yourself and that’s it," he replied with a shrug and played it down.
His words annoyed her. Kalysto could understand that these men’s lives were much more important to him than hers, but that didn’t mean she had to put up with being treated that way.
“Did you know that we are not even inside your brother’s kingdom?”
“Of course I know, I thought you did too.”
“I imagine that you also knew how many monsters there are in this place and yet you didn’t mind bringing me here, risking my life, and you didn’t even bother to inform me," she questioned.
“Of course I knew we were outnumbered. That’s why I asked you to come here to heal the wounded and infected instead of taking them to the shelter. What the hell is all this stupid interrogation for? You’re wasting my time!”
“If you can’t keep your end of the deal and keep me safe while I heal your soldiers, I don’t have to keep mine, either. Although technically I’ve already finished my end of the agreement.”
“What the heck? For not being a fairy, you sure act like one!” He shouted at her, approaching her. As if he wanted to use his huge figure to intimidate her. “I don’t have time for your whining! We made a deal!” He growled at her with their noses almost touching.
Kalysto arched an eyebrow, beginning to regret agreeing to come help him instead of going back to her room for lunch.
I should start looking for another magic tutor.
But that was not all.
She didn’t like that they had lied to her and tried to take advantage of her. That was what really bothered her the most.
That and the way they changed their attitude towards her every three seconds.
If they had been honest from the beginning and told her that where he was taking her wasn’t even part of his kingdom, she wouldn’t have had a problem. But it was the fact that he hid the information and that Caranthir broke his word to keep her safe that brought her usual distrust to the surface.
If they lied about that, what other things did they lie to me about that I haven’t realized until now? And that led her to realize that maybe the contract she had been so happy to make with the king, maybe it wasn’t as beneficial as she had originally thought. Maybe that was why he agreed so easily. Creating a barrier that covered an entire city in exchange for a couple of fruits and crystals for sure was a very low price to pay for the safety of his people. What a fool I was! Although learning potions was something that would definitely come in handy for her.
Especially since she needed to quickly level up the enchantment profession.
Now she needed to turn the situation around and turn things in her favor.
I should have made a binding soul contract with him instead of just a verbal deal. I’m sure he’ll refuse to teach me magic later too, or try to get me to do more things for him and his people. Bunch of freeloaders!
“You promised that nothing bad would happen to me if I came to heal the sick people inside the canvas tent, and by the way, I almost died in the process. So since I finished my part of the deal and you broke yours, I’m out” She took out a home stone from her inventory, and without giving him time to reply, she activated it.
Disappearing from the battlefield.