A Sinner’s Chance

Connecting Status Plates was actually a rather simple task, though it was painful to those involved, but it was at least possible to make them comfortable throughout as we could take the carriage while I worked. Of course, I didn't actually know if the way I did was completely correct since I modeled the connections off of my own Status Plate, but both Steria and Renae seemed to be able to pull up their Status with it so there wasn't an issue. I also needed to adjust their entries so I took a look to see what would need to be changed, taking a glance at Steria's first, which caused me to do a double-take at the absurdity of her Status. I wasn't one to talk when it came to an abnormal Status, but Steria's was the first I'd seen that I thought was even more bizarre.

While she didn't have the same number of Skills I did, most of her Skills were maxed, or close to it at the least, and while her Affinities might as well be non-existent, her attributes were quite good. On top of that a Title besides Retainer, another Gift, and if I was seeing it right, around five hundred languages known, though most were simply labeled as Unknown, something that was strangely shared with her date of birth and age.

While I really wanted to dive into what her other Gift and Skills could do with Seshat's Library, I needed to spend a considerable amount of effort to make her Status seem more normal and less outlandish. Once I did finish, I still needed to do Renae's, something that would be much simpler I hoped.

I was right when it came to Renae's Status, in fact, it was the most plain Status I'd ever seen, but it only made sense given that she never had access to any sort of training, and early in her life her free will had been robbed from her. Renae had been a slave for most of her life so she really could only learn Skills that her master had wanted her to learn.

She didn't even have any magic Skills, let alone anything to actually protect herself with besides Death's Wail, but that wasn't viable unless I was nearby, in which case she wouldn't really need to defend herself anyway. There wasn't much of a choice other than to teach her some method of defense, but first we'd need to work on her physical attributes as they were considerably low for anyone who might be engaging in physical combat, really her only option as she didn't have much in the way of Affinities, and her mana pool was bound to be around average at best. It would delay the trip to the Forest of Darkness, but we decided to slow down so that we could train her. It wouldn't do to have my new coachwoman die so soon after hiring her. 

Thankfully the trip to the edge of the Forest of Darkness was rather uneventful, most of the time was spent either relaxing in the carriage or each of us taking turns trying to teach Renae some basic self-defense techniques. She currently was using a spear I'd fashioned as it was one of the easiest weapons to learn and didn't require too much in way of strength, at least as long as she wasn't going up against anything too tough.

In order to enter the Forest, we had to pass through a checkpoint, an easy enough task due to my standing. A single glance at my Status Plate with the name Vellithra Eldur was enough for us to skip all waiting periods and any searches that were normally required. I was certain that Alcrem would hear about this soon enough but that didn't concern me, it would be too late for him to do anything about it, and if anything, there was a chance that I would be able to get the aid of anyone he sent to find me.

There was a certain threshold where the Forest of Darkness started, something that was easy to feel as the complete change in atmosphere was sudden, almost like we'd stepped into a new dimension. While Steria and Arya seemed uncomfortable, as if insects were crawling on their skin, I felt a strange sense of comfort and nostalgia, as if I'd come home, though I'd never seen anything outside of the cave I was raised in. A small part of me hoped that we'd run across that cave, and that perhaps I'd see Ashara again, something I knew was impossible.

It seemed the atmosphere suited Renae as well as she seemed full of vigor and energy as the carriage slowly rolled through twisted and haunted trees. I was confident that it wouldn't take too long for us to make it to the center of the Forest. I didn't know what kind of monsters and other creatures made their home here, but I doubted they'd be tougher than a Hero.