Chapter 65: Horse

After dinner our entire group cleans up behind us and leaves the house behind. Making our way to the stables where the mayor had said he would meet us.

Hilda is looking at her map while we are walking.

“So, Hilda, where do you think we will end up today?” I start walking next to her, Sam following my lead.

“On horseback? Probably to Honnes I’d say. I think we could even make it to Skaok but I don’t want to push the horses that much. We should treat them well if they are going to be our new party members.”

“That’s true.” Sam nods in agreement.

When we turn the corner towards the village stables we see a very big crowd has gathered near it.

“Looks like we’ll be getting a farewell parade as well.” My sister jokes. “Well, mostly Amicia that is.” 

“Good morning!” The mayor enthusiastically greets us when he sees us coming.

The little Nekote girl running towards us as well.

“I hope you had a great night’s rest?”

“Definitely. Thank you again for the accomodation.” Hilda replies.

The mayor bows again. “We have prepared your horses and rations like you requested.”

“Thank you.”

The little Nekote girl gives both me and Sam a big hug.

“Big sisters be safe, ok?”

“Of course we will.” I pat her on the head. “But only if you are a good girl and don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

“I will.” The girl promises with a big smile and runs back to her parents, who to our surprise were coming over to us as well.

“We haven’t thanked you personally yet for saving our lives, and more importantly for saving little Calli.” The mother bows deeply towards me.

So Calli is her name, huh? We never did ask for it, but it’s definitely a cute name.

I smile. “Seeing you all being happy together is already enough reward for me.”

Sam enthusiastically nods along.

“You look like a great family.”

“Thank you so much.” The father of the family is trying his best not to start crying and bows as well.

Oh gee, all this crying is making me super emotional too, it’s not like I don’t understand where they’re coming from though.

Sam pokes my side and whispers into my ear. “We should probably follow the rest.”

“Ah, right.” I look at the family still standing before me. “We kinda do need to go now... “

The mom wipes her tears away and nods. “We understand, if you ever come back to our village we will receive you with open arms.”

I smile and wave them goodbye. “I’ll remember that. Please take care, and Calli, don’t forget what your big sisters told you, allright?”

Calli nods enthusiastically while waving us goodbye too.

“Hope everything will be fine for these people.” Sam mentions while we walk away.

“I hope so too… maybe we can convince some noble to station more guards in the village…”

“Mhmm.” Sam pats my head. “I have such a smart girlfriend. Thinking all practical like the little Goddess of War she is.”

“Buuu.” I pout.

“Ready to mount up?” Hilda asks when Sam and I arrive at the horses.

“Yep.” I reply and look at the horse we are going to ride. “How do I mount it though?”

“Leave that to me.” My girlfriend smirks.

“What does that mean?” I look at her with distrust, but before I can act she grabs me at my waist, lifts me up and puts me on the horse.

“Well, that’s one way.” My sister, who is already on her horse, laughs at me.

“Shutup you…”

Sam hops on right behind me and takes the reins, giving me a kiss on my head. “You wouldn’t have let me if I asked.”

“Darn right I wouldn’t… grrrrr.”

“Awh, she’s so cute when she’s angry.” Hilda giggles.

“Angery kitten indeed.” Nikki can’t contain her laughter either.

I even hear a couple of people from the crowd laughing, which makes me start blushing furiously.

“Laughing at their Goddess, how dare they.” I pout even harder than before, with my cheeks still beat red.

“Hehe.” Sam grins. “Let’s go before she decides to raze the village.”

“I agree.” Hilda gets on top of her horse as well. “Mayor, I wish you good health and good fortune.”

The mayor hangs the last of the saddlebags on Hilda’s horse and shakes her hand. “Good fortune on your adventures as well.” He then proceeds to bow towards the horse me and Sam are seated on.

“Farewell, Amicia the Great and her party!” He loudly proclaims, making the rest of the crowd start cheering.

“Hope we see you again, oh mighty Goddess of War!”

“Blessings upon that horse!”

“The Goddess is so cute together with her girlfriend!”

And many more different cheers.

Sam makes the horse move, to walk out of the city as the first of our group, while I wave goodbye to the villagers. Although I am incredibly embarrassed by everything that is happening right now, the villagers did treat us really well.

“Bye bye! Stay safe! And Calli, be a good girl!”

And with that our little caravan goes on it’s way to Honnes. 

We can hear the crowd still when we get out of the village, with their cheers only dying out when we reach the edge of the forest.

“Hah, that was a lot.” My sister now takes a more relaxed pose on her horse, she’d been trying to act all respectable as long as the villagers could see her.

Hiding her true nature from everyone!

“I’m actually pretty happy Ami was mostly the center of attention.”

“Oh, is that so? Weren’t you complaining you wanted a bit more attention while we were helping them rebuild?” Nikki shut her lover down almost immediately.

“Shit, you weren’t supposed to bring that up, Nikki!”

“Can’t help it, babe.” Nikki smirks.

“By the way, Sam, where have you learned to ride horses? I don’t think I can and I suppose the others learned by playing the game?” I look up at my girlfriend.

“It’s a skill my class gets, or that I was allowed to pick anyway. I thought animal handling could come in handy. And I thought it fit my character roleplay wise too.”

“It sure does.” Hilda vehemently agrees “I love ranger and beastmaster builds!”

I smile but turn myself to the rest of the group again. “I have a question though.”

“What’s up?” My sister tilts her head questioningly.

“So, Nikki said you were complaining right? And I was thinking… don’t you think it’s annoying that I have such an overpowered skill? Like, do you even have fun, because this is a game after all…”

Hilda speeds up her horse and comes riding to the left of me and Sam. “Don’t worry about that, Ami. Didn’t you tell us this was more than a game to begin with?”

I nod.

“What matters most is us finding out more about this place, keeping people safe, et cetera.”

“I guess.”

“On top of that.” Hilda continues. “For you this is definitely more than just a game since your entire being is connected to this world, and we are here to figure things out about you as well.”

My sister nods. “And there’s no way in hell that adventuring with you wouldn’t be fun. Even though you might be just a tiny little bit overpowered, that doesn’t take away that we just like adventuring in a group and just being together.”

“Exactly.” Nikki agrees as well.

“And we already knew you were practically a Goddess anyway, so it’s not like it comes as a surprise.” Sam kisses the back of my head. “If we would want to play a more balanced game, world, thingy, we would be playing other games, right?”

At that point the horse neighs.

“See, even the horsies agree.” Sam squishes me tight between her arms.

“Mhmm. Sometimes I just feel a bit like I don’t deserve this...  that it’s not me and that I’m just pretending.” I lean into Sam’s hug.

“Imposter syndrome, huh? I think that’s pretty normal, especially in your situation.” Hilda reassures me.

“Well, I think everyone goes through it at one point in time.” Élise comments.

“What’s that?” I ask. “I think I’ve heard the term before, but I’m not sure…”

“It’s exactly the feeling you described babe.” Sam leans her chin on my head. “Feeling unsure that you deserve something, thinking you are a fake, a fraud…”

“And everyone has that? Not just me?”

“Of course. For me I had that a lot when I started playing basketball with my new leg and a lot of people were making comments on it, saying that I was somehow cheating, even though it doesn’t make me stronger at all.”

“Those people are just pricks.” I replied, making Sam giggle.

“Of course they are, but that didn’t make me feel very sure about myself, luckily I had people like Max there to support me.”

“As for me,” My sister now takes the word. “when me and Nikki just got into our relationship I had many, many occasions where I thought that she was just too beautiful for me, that I somehow had tricked her in being together with me, and stuff like that.”

“And it was the same for me.” Nikki nods along.

“Oh. And for Hilda?” I look over at her.

“Hmm, which of the many occasions should I mention.” She starts laughing. “When I first started managing people at work is a good example I guess, I felt incredibly unsure, feeling like I just pretended to know what I was doing. That all my achievements up to that point were the results of pure luck opposed to actual skill.”

“So you see, you are definitely not alone.” My sister rides a bit closer to us so she can give me a head pat.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, kitten.” My sister smiles after which she retakes her position a bit further away from us.

Having finished the talk, the party goes quiet for a bit, and since I’m still a little tired from two days ago I decide to lean backwards into Sam’s arms and take a short nap.

“Good night, Ami.” I hear Sam whisper before I doze off completely. 

FieryKathy