Chapter 56: The Road to Salvation

Chapter 56: The Road to Salvation

I was still trying to figure out what I thought of Beatrice going to find help. I had several issues with it, actually. First, it meant she'd be going outside. Outside near the castle, that was reasonable since there were apparently helpful things, but farther than that would be dangerous. Who knew how much dirt would be there and how many other violent mess makers? Plus, every bad human I ever met came from the outside.

Second, who knows what kind of "help" she'd end up with? Based on how she treated the human woman we found, she seemed to like the humans that attacked her. It didn't give me much faith in her as a judge of character. She could bring someone back who would only hurt her or cause more messes. What if they were a slob like some of the little human's friends, the kind that just left messes everywhere they went? They tracked dirt in, threw things around, and spilled their food. She could bring someone like that into the castle. Sure the castle was bad enough that things couldn't be much messier right now, but soon it wouldn't be. I would have to work hard to fix it, but once I finished exterminating all these large dirt demons, I could get into a reasonable state at least. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

Third, and perhaps most selfishly, I would be left alone. I suppose there would be the one human she'd leave behind, but this was not a good human, nor one I wanted to associate with. I usually learned a lot from humans and interactions with them. Who was to say anything I learned from her would be useful? I wouldn't want to be influenced by anything negative. More than that, though, I'd get lonely. Having a human around all the time was quite nice. I liked listening to Bee talk and having her carry me up and down stairs. Also, it was what gave my work meaning.

Why would I clean if there were no humans around to appreciate the order that I left behind? In that case, if I simply didn't clean, no one would even notice. Therefore, my job would have no purpose. Besides, humans were usually 95% of the reason I had to clean anything in the first place. So if there was no human to both appreciate my work and give me work to do, I think I would feel rather pointless.

I really hoped that she would find another solution to her problems. But the food issue wasn't something I was particularly equipped to solve. Nor the matter of human repairs. I still had yet to find spare human parts for Beatrice to use. Well, now that I thought about it, there might be a source for spare human parts right nearby.... But then again, maybe not. I wouldn't want Beatrice to get affected by parts from a bad donor human.

I guessed when it came down to it, it really was Beatrice's decision to go find other humans. I supposed I could only wish her the best. When she first brought up the idea of going to get help, I briefly considered going with her, but ultimately that was a horrible idea. I was quite happy here in my castle, and I saw no real reason to go outside. Moreover, I don't think I'd be any more prepared to deal with any threats out there than Beatrice was at this point. As long as there weren't massive demons roaming about there too. Which there probably were. Or worse. Though Beatrice seemed oddly unconcerned about such dangers, I decided to trust her judgment on this one tentatively. After all, she seemed far more familiar with the outside than I was.

So why did that feel so wrong? Why did she throw the thought out before truly considering it? First, of course, there was the concern that she had promised her soul to an all-powerful being, but the more she got to know Void, the less she was concerned about that. Maybe her master might actually support her if she wanted to strike out on her own. Of course, she wouldn't even be surprised if the whole "owning her soul" thing was a slight miscommunication. But even so, that didn't really matter; she still held the weight of her oath on her heart, even if it wasn't what Void intended. If Void called her home, she instinctively knew she'd have to answer for the sake of her own word. Even though it didn't strike her as the type to hold her to it. Even if it might release her if she just asked.

Still, despite all those considerations, she had every intention and desire to return to the castle. She had been 100% honest with her master. She planned to go to the hamlet and see if anyone could come to help her get the farm and chickens for a few days. Barring that, she'd hoped to buy as much food as she could carry.

Bee was also pretty confident that all the tools she needed to fix the kitchen were in the castle. However, she was not nearly so certain about the associated supplies or how to use said tools. So maybe she needed someone not only to help with the farm and the chickens but also to help with remodeling a kitchen. That was probably a bit of a stretch, but even basic carpentry would be very helpful. That would be plenty if she could fix the water barrel and some of the stoves.

Her earlier concern about insufficient water was laid to rest when she discovered the well outside was perfectly intact. Still, the food was an issue. She didn't know how to cure meat or butcher animals, so many options were out. She either needed someone who knew how to do that or the ability to trade for what she lacked.

The more she built up this list in her head, the more she realized she might need more than a bit of help. It sounded like the castle really needed a full-time staff to function. Perhaps not to support her alone, but definitely to take advantage of all the resources and maintain all the different areas regularly. If something she intellectually knew but had never really thought about too much. She figured the mages probably deduced that out themselves a long time ago. Hopefully, she could make do with a much smaller workforce than the mages. There was also the issue of pay. She was sure that the castle had large amounts of wealth somewhere. And clearly, there were lots of valuables that she could probably use for trade, but she hadn't had the freedom to pick any up before leaving. With the earth demons roaming around, it was just too dangerous. So she had only brought what little coin she had picked up so far.

It likely wouldn't be enough to hire anyone, but it probably wouldn't be enough to get her robbed, either. Not that she was really concerned about where she was going. There were very few people, and they had a good relationship with the castle at this point. They kind of needed to keep it that way as it was their biggest customer.

These thoughts kept Bee busy as she found the path leading off in the woods towards the hamlet. As she considered where she needed to go, her pathing skill triggered and pointed her directly off the track in a line leading right into the woods. Bee sighed and continued on the beaten path. This skill had seemed like a dud so far. Perhaps it would take time to improve. Maybe she was just oblivious to how walking directly through a massive pile of leaves and turning to cross through that pile of deer droppings qualified as an "improved" path. Maybe it would become more powerful in the future. It was hard to say, especially since the skill didn't appear in any of the library books she had searched so far. It was almost as if she was the first person to receive the skill. That was unlikely, though.

All in all, the trip started off pretty uneventfully. It was a wide enough road that a horse could comfortably walk on it. Though if two horses met going opposite directions, one would have to find a spot to pull off. That likely had never happened in the history of this road. It was unpaved, more of a slightly compressed trail of dirt rather than a real road. Weeds and greenery encroached on the edges, threatening to take back the infrequently used path and hide it. However, as she walked, she started noticing something. If she stopped paying attention and followed her skill, she found that while it would avoid rocks and other obstacles like fallen trees, it would lead her right to rough mud. Even causing her to veer off the path to stomp through a puddle. She really needed to figure out this skill. It seemed she still had a long way to go.