"I see. Well, I am a bit of an outcast also. As for progress, we will work on that. Now, there are three paths; you know the area; where are we going?" I asked, and Annie nodded, pointing to the far left.
"This trail is low-level forest-type monsters, so they will be mostly beasts," Annie explained.
"Okay, I will, gah!" I started to say but was hit with a crippling cramp in the back of my leg.
I had just about to say that I would go up front and for everyone to follow. After everything I had learned, I had a hard time trusting these people, but I had no choice.
"Clint upfront, then Annie, and Tracy with me. We will support you two from the back. Make sure that no one breaks position, no matter what," I explained, having learned most of the basic tactics and how to disable them.
"Fine, smart move to put the tough guy up front!" Clint said, and I sighed.
"What do you want me to do?" Tracy asked, sounding worried.
I really wasn't sure what to tell her since I didn't know anything about any of them. I felt like I should be doing something different here.
In my previous life, there was a person that had tried to follow me as a kid, and there was a big cat. I had been training, and I assumed the boy had as well, but he ended up getting seriously hurt.
I ignored the boy because I was always too busy with myself and carried that feeling of not wanting to see others get hurt. Then I cut myself off and forgot about people when I got the blessing.
"Wait!"
Up in Heaven, Jessel peered over her table and grinned. There was a large boar with a bounty up ahead that the Nameless God could kill but would not be allowed to.
Then he stopped and called for everyone to wait.
"What the hell is he doing!" Jessel growled as she tried to make him start coughing, but nothing was working.
This man deserved to know real pain. The pain of losing loved ones and still having to move on!
"Why isn't it working!" Jessel screamed, throwing her tea.
"Because he is doing what I asked him to."
The All-Mighty's voice reverberated through Jessel, and she was frozen in place.
"This one is different from all of you, and you will learn, but just because he is out of favor right now does not mean I am not watching. You all made choices, and what he did was right in its own way."
Jessel gasped after the All-Mighty finished, puffing and panting. She still did not like the child, but the All-Mighty had made his choice, but she would not make this easy on him.
The Goddess of The Dragon Claw would make sure she got blood at some point.
Back on Dessra
"What did you make us turn around for?! How are you gonna get any clothes if we don't kill anything!" Clint complained.
"What skills do I have? What does Annie have? What about Tracy? Do you know the answer to any of those questions?" I asked.
We had just gotten back to the town's outskirts, and both women were standing behind me.
"I know what I can do!" Clint challenged, raising his weapon to me.
I knew he was stronger than me, but he was very clumsy, from what I could tell. I didn't have my stats, but I had excellent hand-to-hand combat skills outside of special skills.
"How about this? If you can hit me with that club, will we go back? Okay?" I asked, but he dropped his weapon and shook his head.
"I won't be anyone's fool, including my own. I will hear what you have to say."
"Good. All I am saying is that we don't know enough about what each other is capable of. Tracy's question also reminded me that she doesn't have a way to fight at the moment. There are just a few things that need to be addressed before we go off and get ourselves killed," I explained, but I was worried about that bitch in the sky.
They said I needed to be the one to help a Hero, not to fight their battles, but without the blessing, it wasn't something that you just become. I needed to make these people into people that could stand at the front of the fight like I did, but was it possible?
Was I just playing a game that was just going to get everyone killed? Is that what they really wanted?
I was sure that many of the others must have lost friends along the way, and that would make them bitter to see me lose no one. I had to be careful because if something seemed too easy, it probably was.
"So what? I am just supposed to wait for you to teach the Book Woman? What about Annie? Can't she do anything?" Clint asked in a condescending voice.
"If you don't like it, then leave! No one asked you to stay!" Annie shouted from behind me, and I was in agreement.
"Sounds like you are looking to find another party. I will train these ones, and you can go have fun," I said and turned around, asking, "Are you two coming with me?"
"Yup, I had a bad feeling about that path," Annie said, and I nodded.
"You felt it too? Good. Make sure to speak up when you feel uneasy like that," I said as I started walking.
"Fine! You all are just wasting time anyways! You will all end up monster food at some point!" Clint said in a strangely cheerful voice that made my blood run cold.
That had been a very close call indeed.
"How long have you girls known Clint?" I asked, but both girls shook their heads.
"We just met him yesterday and hadn't gone out and wouldn't if you hadn't shown up!" Annie said, and Tracy nodded.
As I thought, that man was definitely working with that bitch, Jessel. There certainly would have been something to mess us up down that path!