"Gale!" Clarice immediately turned around to shoot him a deadly glare.
"What? It's true. Dead is dead. There is no need to beat around the bush."
The young woman returned her attention to me, her eyes full of worries.
"Don't listen to him!" she demanded. "Troy isn't dead!"
She didn't seem to be lying, but at the same time, she didn't seem entirely convinced by her own words.
"Where is he?" I hesitantly asked, my heart unsettled.
"Up the hill," Gale responded, finally approaching.
Following his gaze, I noticed a huge canvas shelter on a small hill, secluded from the other tents.
"See that?" Gale pointed with a quick gesture of the head. "That's the slavers' base of operations. And you don't want to go there. Because if you do, you're not coming back. No one ever did."
He marked a pause, giving me a meaningful look.
"Troy went there," he continued with the same hard expression. "He rocked the boat, trying to start a revolt, so he was dragged there, and no one saw him since."
"That doesn't mean anything!" Clarice stressed, "he could still be alive!"
"That was two weeks ago, Clarice," Gale emphasized. "The dude tried to start a revolt, do you really think the slavers would have allowed him to live?"
Shit, shit, shit. You better be alive, Troy. I made a promise to your son.
"What the hell was he thinking?" I complained, thinking out loud.
"Well, isn't it your fault?"
"Gale!" Clarice scolded.
I frowned, looking up at Gale. He was giving me an accusing glare.
"What are you saying? How is this my fault?"
The man sneered at my ignorance.
"The dude was delirious," he explained, "he started spurting out nonsense as soon as he arrived. He mentioned an Aileen. Wasn't he talking about you? You said you know him, right?"
Aileen? Not Lynett but Aileen? Aileen is the name I gave when I introduced myself to Yoko, but Troy knows that I am known as Lynett among normal people. So if he used my [True Name] instead of my mortal name then…
"The Gods' judgement will fall upon us, he said," Gale continued with an ironic smile. "Their wrath will be delivered to those who force their will upon the others, and the slaves will be freed."
Oh, that fucking idiot. I should have known he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut.
"He told us he knew the Gods personally and that we were under their protection. That we should fear nothing."
You have some guts, Troy. Now I'm tempted by the idea of abandoning you to your fate.
As I could feel the headache coming, I noticed a little hand pulling my dress. My eyes fell upon a small child, who I didn't even see approaching.
"Are you the Aileen Troy talked about?" the little girl asked, her eyes full of expectations. "Are you really going to save us all?"
My eyelids twitched as I tried to keep a straight face.
"What did he say about me?" I inquired.
"That you were a goddess!"
Yeah, I thought so. Troy, I'm going to save your ass just because I promised Axis, but after that, you're dead.
I sighed.
"And you believed him?" I patted the little girl's head. "Do you think I look like a goddess?"
The little girl stared at me silently for a few seconds before a smile broke onto her face.
"Yeah!" she beamed.
Well…
Before I could add anything else, a woman appeared out nowhere. Forcing her way through the crowd, she dashed to our side, suddenly stopping right next to the little girl.
"I'm sorry, please don't mind her," she apologized in a hurry, her head lowered.
"Uh, it's alright?"
Unable to meet my eyes, the unknown woman -probably her mother- took the little girl in her arms and quickly re-entered the crowd. A little startled by her weird behavior at first, I then quickly noticed the weird looks of the other slaves, all around us.
"Troy is quite famous here, you know?" Gale suddenly started to recount, regaining my full attention. "A lot of us were enslaved because of a debt. And when you're in that case, families are quick to abandon you. But Troy didn't. He kept coming here every single day, bringing slavers all the money he had collected during the day to beg them not to sell his wife. Quite an admirable man."
…Okay?
"But then he stopped coming," he continued, "for weeks. And since there was no point in keeping his wife, it was decided that she would be sold away. Only then he reappeared. But well, you know the rest of the story."
Gale marked a pause, his expression hardening.
"So, what did you tell him?" he questioned, glaring at me. "Did you scam him? Troy isn't such a gullible guy, but considering your eyes' color, it wouldn't be so weird for him to believe you if you told him you were a goddess or something."
What kind of groundless accusation is that?
"I haven't scammed anyone," I objected, slightly annoyed.
But Gale clearly had no intention to listen.
"Were you that bored?" he scowled, completely deaf to my words. "You nobles have it easy, huh? You live on people's taxes, and when you're bored, you can decide to play with a poor, desperate man's heart."
"Gale!" Clarice called out, grabbing his arm. "Watch your words! She's a chosen one!"
"So what? Fuck the gods and their chosen ones," he spat, shaking her hand away.
Quickly understanding that arguing with him would be pointless, I let a long sigh out of my mouth.
"Does it even matter to you what I do?" I grumbled.
"It does," Gale declared, returning his attention to me. "Because this isn't just about Troy. It's about all of us. Look around you."
The slaves around us had all fallen silent. Some of them were looking at me with the same expectant eyes as the little girl before, while others squinted suspiciously at me. But all attention was focused on me.
"When Troy started spurting out this nonsense about the gods coming to our aid, his words spread quickly. And no matter how foolish it sounded, some people actually believed him. Do you know why?" he queried, clearly not expecting an answer. "Because this is how desperate they are. No matter how much they hide behind smiles, no matter how they play all buddy-buddy with each other, we all know what's coming for us once we're sold away. That's why, as crazy as it sounded, people were willing to hold onto that idea of a divine intervention."
Yeah, I can understand that. I know that feeling. Being so helpless that you can only wait, pray and hope. But it's exactly because I've been there before that I can't help but feel annoyed at this.
"So what?" I croaked. "What do you expect me to do?"
"Take responsibility," Gale demanded. "Those people are all expecting something from you. You started this by deceiving Troy. Now you end it."
I clicked my tongue as I felt the annoyance growing in me.
Responsibilities? What responsibilities? Don't make me laugh. Why should I have to be responsible for the life of strangers? Why should I bear their hopes and expectations? This is exactly why I never wanted to follow the path of a hero. Those people are desperate, I know that. But the look in their eyes is unbearable. This is not about pressure or anything. But for some reason, this is just... annoying.
I do feel sorry for them, I really do, but I came here for my own selfish reasons and that's not going to change.
"I owe you nothing. Nor to you, nor to anyone else here," I declared. "Why should I take care of you people's credulity? If you believed the words of a delirious man, that's your own fault. Don't blame it on me."
"You…!"
"What?" I cut him off. "Isn't that what you wanted to hear? I am not here to be your savior."
Emphasizing this last sentence, I made sure everyone heard me. Around me, people's expectations died out soon enough. I had flatly crushed their hopes and beliefs. Disappointment showing on their face, the initial amiability of the slaves quickly disappeared, leaving room for hostility. It couldn't be helped.
"If you want a miracle, create one yourself," I advised. "Don't wait for it. And don't expect others to save you."
I know better than anyone how pointless it is to wait for a miracle. I've waited all my past life for one, and when it finally came, the gods spit on my face. Miracles don't exist. The best thing you can do in a bad situation is to turn the odds in your favor. And you can't do that by only waiting and praying. You can't do that by leeching on the others. That's not how the world works.
No longer welcomed here, I turned on my heels as I signaled Cottontail to follow me. No one tried to stop me, not even Clarice. But it's fine. I no longer had any reasons to stay here after all. I knew where to find Troy and, lucky me, he was at the slavers' headquarters, the one other place I intended to go. There, I should probably be able to meet the slavers' leader. And even if he isn't there, I should at least meet someone important. Important enough to tell me what I want to know.
Leaving Clarice, Gale and the others behind, I headed to slavers' base of operations with Cotton.
…
… But it's strange.
I feel weird.
Why am I so irritated?