I got dressed after bathing but left off some of my armor where I saw chaffs forming. A quick check on my armor revealed that it got bent in the fight and was irritating my skin. I wasn’t an expert on what would happen if it continued, but I would rather fix the problem first.
I walked out of the bathhouse, very aware that I wasn’t dressed as a proper knight but still dressed better than a bandit chief. The monk and saintess were standing outside looking clean and refreshed.
“The two of us discussed and we think it would be best to get a room first, such that we have a spot to regroup if we get split up.” The monk stated this as if the prince and I had already agreed.
The prince nodded and asked us to follow him to a building down where we came from with a wooden sign outside that read ‘the wandering knight’. The sign included a simple relief sketch of a knight’s helmet and a small but detailed crest in the corner. “Wooden signs that have a small crest on the side show that they are aligned with the local lord. Forging such a crest is worth a fine that would kill all but the biggest of merchants. We can be reasonably sure such a place won’t send assassins after us.”
We entered the door and found a quiet inn, a few merchants were talking at the tables in the corner, some small paintings of landscapes decorated the wooden walls, and the scent of freshly made bread filled the room. A quiet girl stationed at a central desk called out to us. “Greetings, are you four looking for rooms?”
Before we could answer, the saintess grabbed the prince’s shoulder and started whispering. “I don’t know if we can afford this place. It looks like it would be rather pricey.”
I could only shake my head at her comment. “Similar to needing good armor, if we aren’t sure if assassins are going to come after us then a safe place to sleep is needed. Think of it less as paying for a good bed and more for a good door to keep out intruders. I would like to remind you assassins have already shot me twice.”
The prince looked at us and gave a charming royal smile, “Give me a second to get us two rooms for one night and if they are open to extending our stay tomorrow”. He walked away and started a quick talk with the girl, appearing right in his element.
As I looked at the prince, completely in awe of how regal he managed to look in what was effectively dirty traveling clothes, I felt a small hand grab my injured forearm. “How long has your arm looked this bad?” I turned to see the piercing albino eyes of the saintess trying to interrogate me. She, once again, was not intimidating. So I answered with a shrug, I had my bracer covering it the entire trip.
“Give me a second to cure it.” She paused for a second before whispering under her breath, “Shit”. The monk and I heard the very unchurch-like curse from her. “I cannot believe I was about to try using magic when I should still be erring on the side of caution. I would likely end up in as bad a state as before.” She bit her thumb and looked lost in thought for a few seconds. “Faith, can you go to an apothecary and get something to put on his wounds? We at least need things to prevent swelling and disinfect, as well as something to dab over the wound to clean it. Probably doesn’t need to be said, but get everything as cheap as you can. We need to budget.”
The monk nodded after looking at my arm and apparently seeing something more dangerous than I did. She briskly walked out the door before beginning a jog down the street. I followed the saintess to a table on the side as she put the back of her hand to my head to check for fevers, asked me to open and close my hand, everything she could in a few minutes. The only reason she stopped was because the prince came over with two sets of keys. I ignored the saintess momentarily and asked him to lead us to our rooms.
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The inside of the room was relatively nice. Two simple wool mattresses were in the room along with a small wooden desk and chair. A small window allowed light in, but it was too small for someone to enter through. I sat on the desk and motioned for her to sit in the chair. She looked at my arm incredibly focused. I was fine until I felt something vaguely familiar on my wound. Pulling my arm away I asked a question I hoped was just paranoia.
“Were you healing my arm even after we told you not to?”
Her slight smile vanished. “I didn’t try to! Honestly, It just happened” Her face froze in a panic. “I didn’t even mean to. I don’t understand.” She withdrew her arm and leaned back from me.
“Your path influences your subconscious actions.” The prince stood at the doorway, closing it to give us privacy. Your path is that of a martyr. Even if healing others will hurt you… These actions show you will continue to heal at your own expense. I feel I should mention that trying to go against your path will cause problems in the long run, but we can help you walk a similar but separate path parallel to it.”
Hearing that only made me hate the church. She was going to suffer because of her path forever. Even when she gets her second and third choice along her path, she will still be influenced by this suicidal aspect.
“So, this is what it meant by martyr.” She looked down defeated. We all were silent for a moment, trying to let her process this new information. “If I wanted to move away from being a martyr, should I focus on learning combat magic or physical combat? Or would It be better to act selfishly and less saintly?”
The prince looked at me and shook his head. I couldn’t be certain of what that meant, but I could hazard a guess. “Physical combat would be better. I imagine you would have told us about anything combat based you had already. Besides, I highly doubt saintesses even have any offensive magic options.” The saintess nodded, looked down thoughtfully, then gave a grin. “Acting rudely will not prevent you from getting a saintess path again either. Besides, the church will likely force you to choose the option of the three they want anyway.”
In a quiet voice, she asked us, “How likely would I be able to advance my path outside of the control of the priests”.
“Considering we have someone who was a part of the thieves guild”, I give her a small grin, “I’d say pretty good”. She met my eyes and returned the smile. “Onto your physical training. I’ll give you something very basic, slow swings with my sword. It’s too heavy for you to use properly but should help with exhausting you for muscle growth.”
I handed her my sword and gave her a few tips. Unsteadily she raised the sword in front of her. I helped move her hips and legs to a position she could attack from. We both knew she wasn’t likely to be attacked here, but proper habits are important to be formed early.
I had her do a slow forward stab, a slow horizontal slash, and then hold it defensively in front of her for three seconds. I nodded to her and turned to the prince.
“Probably better to give you practice with a shield. I’ll try to find you a buckler, but the added weight from the bigger one I use could help to train you.”
The prince looked at me hesitantly. “Could we not have done this before the bath?”
I actually would have liked to help train them earlier given the revelation of our timetable being moved up, so I wasn’t going to push it off more. I gave him a few exercises in holding a shield in front of him to get his muscles better prepared. Only after I was certain they were doing the proper forms did I start exercising myself. I didn’t workout my arms for obvious reasons.
Both of them lost their form fairly quickly. Very quickly actually. I ended the exercises there as they might have picked up poor habits otherwise.
“Does this make me less of a martyr?” The saintess asked while looking at her still shaking arms.
The prince gave a slight smile while responding. “Plenty of people practice the sword and become martyrs, so no. But taking the initiative to learn something new like this means you are less of a puppet.”